The Lost Generation
by Barb LP
Summary: MWPP prequel to the Psychic Serpent Trilogy, also featuring Lily Evans, Snape & Bill Weasley.  Hogwarts is a safe haven where Bill has always longed to be--until there are whispers of vampires and werewolves, of Death Eaters and traitors....
1. Leaving Home

The Lost Generation **Title:** The Lost Generation (1975-1982) (01/20)  
**Author name:** Barb  
**Author email:** blpurdom@yahoo.com  
**Category:** Mystery  
**Sub Category:** Romance  
**Keywords:** MWPP Lily Snape Bill Weasley  
**Rating:** R  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA, Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent, Harry Potter and the Time of Good Intentions  
**Summary:** Bill Weasley begins his education at Hogwarts in 1975, in the middle of Voldemort's reign of terror. He never suspects that the Gryffindor prefects he looks up to, Lily Evans and James Potter, will eventually have a son who saves the wizarding world, nor that the Weasley family will eventually play an important role in the Dark Lord's fall. All he knows is that in a very scary wizarding world, Hogwarts is a safe haven where he has always longed to be--until, that is, there are whispers of vampires and werewolves, of Death Eaters and traitors, and a Seeress pronounces a Prophecy which will shake the wizarding world to its very foundations....  
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.   
**Author notes:** _The Lost Generation_ is the prequel to the _Psychic Serpent Trilogy_, which begins with _Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent_. There are events and characters mentioned which appear in other books in the trilogy (such as two Weasley sisters who were born between Charlie and Percy). While it is not absolutely necessary to read the trilogy first (the third book is in progress) it may be helpful in some respects. A FAQ file concerning the entire story arc is also available on the Psychic_Serpent Yahoo Group website (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Psychic_Serpent .) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**The Lost Generation**

(1975-1982)

**** _In days to come the Dark Lord's fall  
Is split by silver into gold.  
A Triangle, each time, his bane._

One corner is a Lion tall,  
Of good intent, named for the coal;  
Twice hidden, both a beast and man.

One corner comes from blood of yore,  
Child of the silver Moon so cold;  
Dark Lord's servant and Lion's mate.

Last comes a flame-haired Daughter of War,  
Caught between silver and the gold;  
One of two and one of many.

The Lion loves the Daughter bright  
As does the Child of silver Moon;  
But the Dark Lord's servant shall betray.

What though they flee before their fate,  
Three shall bring forth the days of doom,  
And Love shall end the Dark Lord's reign.

--The Triangle Prophecy

  
  
**Chapter One**

** Leaving Home**

_Monday, 1 September, 1975_

  


"Charlie and Annie, say goodbye to Bill; he'll be gone by the time you're home." 

Bill Weasley tried not to show that he had a lump in his throat when his mother said this. His brother Charlie and his sister Annie were standing uncertainly by the front door with their rucksacks, waiting to dash out to the school bus when it came. Charlie, who was nine and starting his sixth year at the village school in Hogsmeade, tried to look manly about the goodbye, but the previous night as they lay in their beds in the bedroom they shared, Charlie had confided that he was going to miss Bill, and that he was more than a little scared to be the big brother. 

Charlie showed none of these fears now as he put on a good show, shaking his brother's hand and saying, "I'll keep Annie and Peggy in line while you're gone. And the garden gnomes." 

"Right. Let'em know who's boss," Bill said, also putting on a good show. _I'm eleven years old, for crikey's sake. And so are all the other first years, and I'll bet none of them feel like crying because they're leaving home for the first time...._

"Who? The girls or the gnomes?" 

Bill grinned. "All of'em." Charlie grinned back at him, his gap-toothed smile and heavily freckled face imprinting themselves on Bill's brain. He thought it was possible that his brother's brown eyes looked a little shiny, but he dared not say anything about this. 

And then Annie had to run to him and throw her arms around his waist, sobbing, "Don't go, Bill!" 

He crouched and took his five-year-old sister in his arms, holding her tightly, smoothing down her orange braids. Bill meant the world to Annie; he was her rock. She was only starting her second year at the village school, and next year when Charlie was in seventh year at the school, their youngest sister, Peggy would be nearly old enough to be a first year (her birthday wasn't until November, but his mother had already been assured by the headmistress--her former employer--that she would admit Peggy early). Bill had helped Annie with her homework (not really strenuous for the four-year-olds) and had sat with her and Charlie to eat lunch, instead of the other seventh years. Family was the most important thing, their parents always told them, and Bill had always taken that to heart. Now he felt as though he was abandoning them, and he had the distinct sensation of a heavy rock having taken up residence in his stomach; or perhaps it was a large, lumpy magnet attracted to the pole called Home. 

Suddenly there was a very loud noise in the front garden; the bright green bus for the Hogsmeade school had _popped!_ into existence in the middle of the flower bed, making Molly Weasley turn purple and rush out of the front door of her house, shaking her finger at the driver, who opened the door laconically and waited for Annie and Charlie to make their way up the steps into the bus' interior. When she was done her tirade, Molly hugged and kissed each of them, finally letting them board the bus with the other noisy, laughing children, and Bill stood waving at them from the front door as the double-decker bus with the legend _Hogsmeade Village School_ abruptly disappeared again, with a loud sucking sound. Bill winced. 

His mother walked back to the house with a sigh, shaking her head. "Sounds like he has to have that engine looked at again. I dread the thought of him putting it off much longer. What if the entire bus gets splinched when he's trying to bring the children home?" 

Bill was startled by her saying this; she never used to voice her worries to him. Now it was almost as though he had advanced to the ranks of the adults, because he was getting ready to start at Hogwarts. _I'm not ready to grow up,_ he thought desperately. _Please let me go back to the village school with my brother and sister...._

Inside, she picked little Peggy up from where she'd been playing on the hearthrug. "I still need to get Peggy dressed. Are you all packed?" 

Bill nodded. "And I have my ticket." He brandished his train ticket and then put it back in his shirt pocket. _This is actually going to happen,_ he thought. _I'm going away._

His mother walked briskly up the stairs, the three-year-old on her hip, as she called, "Bill dear, could you clear the breakfast things for me?" 

"No problem, Mum," he called. He went through to the kitchen, where half-eaten bowls of porridge, teacups and saucers, plates with toast and bacon crumbs and an open jar of marmalade stood scattered about with knives, forks and spoons in rather unpredictable places. (Why had Charlie evidently been trying to balance his fork on the handle of his teacup?) 

Bill listened carefully first, to make sure his mother wasn't about to come thundering back down the stairs. Then he held out his hands and concentrated, and suddenly, in a rush, all of the detritus from breakfast had hurled itself into the stone sink under the window. The taps immediately turned on and started filling the sink with hot, soapy water. Bill looked at the table and groaned; the marmalade was no longer sitting there. And the jar had been open; that meant he couldn't just fish the soapy jar out of the water and dry it off. The marmalade was ruined. He sighed and went to the sink, retrieving the jar (full up with what looked like rather soapy marmalade) and then chucking it in the dustbin. His mother had always said he was going to do great things because of how early his magic had manifested itself, but he didn't always concentrate on things like only trying to get just the _dishes_ into the sink, not the food. (He also noticed that there were tea leaves clinging to the soapsuds in the sink; he didn't have much hope that his mother wouldn't notice _that._) 

Luckily, since he lived in a wizarding household, he knew that the Ministry would be expecting magic to be occurring on a regular basis, and unless someone turned him in, he was unlikely to be caught doing magic outside of school while underage. He was very, very tired of having to hide his magic. It was against the law for him to do anything on purpose (not that that had stopped him). That was the one reason why he was glad to finally be going to Hogwarts; he could really _learn_ magic now, instead of just repeating Latin conjugations and declensions and learning elementary magical history. He'd also learned his basic skills at the village school, reading, writing, mathematics and very, very simple Potions work. They also kept an herb garden of the more harmless plants they would later study in Herbology and they had a small petting zoo of friendly creatures like Kneazles and Nifflers, plus some toads and rats and salamanders and double-ended newts. 

He had a wand now, and he would be starting on Charms and Transfiguration, and Defense against the Dark Arts--_real_ magical studies. He itched to pull his wand out of his trunk and try some basic spells; he'd never felt anything like the sensation when he'd finally found his wand....a warm tingling all through him, starting at his fingers, where they wrapped around the rosewood; the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and the shower of red and gold sparks that burst from the wand tip was like a burst of fireworks. He'd tried out several dozen "wrong" wands, but that had simply made Mr. Ollivander more excited, more determined to find the right one. When it became apparent that the rosewood wand was the one for him (it had a phoenix feather core) the old man went to get some brown paper to wrap it up. Bill looked about the messy shop, at the piles of wand boxes lying heaped up on every surface, and before he knew what he was doing, he'd waved his wand and all of the other wands jumped back into their proper boxes, and the boxes themselves were practically racing to file themselves back on the shelves where they had been. 

His mother and brother and sisters had watched, open mouthed, when this happened. Bill grimaced; he'd starting doing accidental magic from the time he was very young, and whereas some people thought this meant he was very powerful, he felt more like he was burping very loudly in public every time this occurred. Mr. Ollivander had come back with the paper and string and calmly wrapped Bill's wand and took his six Galleons seven Sickles payment for it, not commenting on the altered state of the shop. Bill's impromptu spell had cleared up not just the scattered wands, but also a lot of the dust as well. 

Bill had expected a scolding for doing magic in the shop, but for once Molly Weasley surprised him. She not only did not upbraid him for what he'd done, but when they were back outside, his mother sniffed disdainfully, looking back at the musty shop. "Well," she said, "he might have thanked you for putting the other wands back. Not that that place couldn't have done with a few dusting spells before ever we set foot in there...." 

"_Bill!_" his mother called shrilly now. 

"Yes, Mum?" 

"Is Peggy's shoe down there?" 

Bill found it near the kitchen fireplace. "Yes!" He sighed and carried it up the rickety stairs. He wished he dared to do a banishing charm to send it up, but having botched the breakfast clean-up, he felt it was safer to carry it. Plus, if he did another spell before going to school, he'd get another lecture from his mother. (That was the normal order of the day.) He'd had a very difficult time with his will-power lately, being so anxious to start Hogwarts. His mother had told him more than once that it wouldn't do to get in trouble before he even arrived at the school. 

There were many spells whose incantations he did not know, but which he already did instinctively, and without a wand. He knew, however, that you were marked on _everything_ at Hogwarts, and if you couldn't explain the theory on the written test or speak the correct incantation, or do the right wand-waving, passing the practical exam (getting the desired result, such as banishing a shoe) didn't count for much. He wasn't convinced he was going to be a great success at school; he knew he wasn't very hard-working, and he didn't think of himself as very bright, either. He was scared to death of disappointing his parents. 

When Peggy was finally dressed, he and his mother went to the kitchen with his trunk and stood it on end. They were going to the Leaky Cauldron by Floo powder, then taking a Muggle taxi to King's Cross Station. His dad was already at his job at the Ministry; he'd Apparated away early that morning, before Bill had even awoken. Bill knew that everything at the Ministry had been in an uproar for several years, because of a Dark wizard who called himself Lord Voldemort (although everyone he knew said, "You-Know-Who") and his followers, the Death Eaters. But he still thought his dad could have woken him to say goodbye. 

Bill grasped the handle of his trunk and threw the Floo powder into the flames. "_The Leaky Cauldron,_" he said clearly, then stepped into the warm, breezy fire, trying not to lose his grip on the trunk handle (all he needed was for it to go flying into someone's sitting room and knock them out cold) as the grates of hundreds of wizarding fires whirled around him and his breakfast threatened to also start whirling around him. 

Finally, he fell out into the dim front room of the Leaky Cauldron, a dingy old wizarding pub in London which masked the entrance to Diagon Alley, the wizarding shopping district. Bill dragged his trunk clear of the hearth, coughing from the soot he'd inhaled, and a moment later, his mother stepped out of the fire with little Peggy in her arms. She took down the hood she'd pulled over her daughter's head when they'd been traveling, and Peggy's copper curls were seen again. She laughed and clapped her little hands and demanded, "Again! Again!" She'd enjoyed the ride. 

"'Ere, now!" said Tom, the old almost-toothless publican, from behind the bar. "No bringin' somethin' that big through the Floo network in future!" he said, gesturing at Bill's trunk; it _had_ banged about quite a lot on the way, Bill reflected, and was also covered in soot now. Bill grimaced, wondering how _he_ looked. "I can' have every Hogwarts student comin' through here on the first day of term! 'Twould be mayhem!" 

His mother reddened. "I'm sorry, Tom. We've never done this before. Bill's a first year, now, you know." 

He grinned at the eldest Weasley child with his few remaining teeth. "Finally off t'Hogwarts! 'Tis a big day for ye." 

"Yes, sir," Bill said uncertainly. He turned to his mother. "Mum--could you--could you clean up me and my trunk before we get the taxi?" She nodded and waved her hand, and the soot immediately left him and his trunk. "Well," he said in a quavering voice to the old man. "G'bye." 

Tom nodded and gave him another grin. "Good luck," he said tersely. _I'll need it,_ Bill thought grimly, as he followed his mother out into the busy London street on which the Leaky Cauldron was situated. They climbed into the first taxi that stopped for them and the driver helped them put the trunk in the boot of the car. Bill leaned back on the soft leather seat, sighing, and wishing that the taxi ride would last forever. He had waited his whole life to go to Hogwarts, and now it was the last place on earth where he wanted to be. 

* * * * *

Lily Evans stepped out of her parents' car. The car park of King's Cross Station was crowded with parents helping their children remove large trunks from the boots of the cars and there were numerous teenagers and almost-teenagers carrying cages with owls and wicker cases with cats. The fathers and mothers were doing helpful things like finding trolleys for hauling the trunks into the station. They looked fondly at the children they weren't going to see until the Christmas holiday and Lily could see more than one mother wipe a tear from her eye. 

Lily sighed. Her parents weren't with her; her father was at St. Michael's Hospital again, at his wife's bedside. She hated to be going just when Mum was about to have the biopsy. At the same time, she hated sitting in the lounge, waiting, waiting for the doctor to walk in and say, "I'm afraid it's malignant," yet again. Of course, there had been the times when he'd walked in and said, "She's officially in remission," but those events were always superseded by these less cheerful ones. Three times she'd gone into remission. Three times she had come out of remission with cancer again. 

Her sister Petunia was still sitting with the wheel of the car in a death grip, looking suspiciously at the other obvious Hogwarts students (if you knew what to look for) milling around the cars. Lily knew she would get no help from her. Petunia was extremely chagrined that Lily was making her late for work; she'd been clerking for Mr. Dursley at Grunnings Drills down in Surrey for three years, since she'd finished school, and she took great pride in getting there at eight in the morning, before anyone else, and making sure Mr. Dursley had a fresh pot of tea waiting for him and all of the pencils in the mug on his desk sharpened. Well before she knew he would arrive, she placed neatly fanned-out folders on his desk with the reports he needed to peruse to gauge the plant's effectiveness and productivity. She had meticulously researched and typed the reports the previous day. He wanted for nothing when he was in his office. Petunia Evans was a model secretary. After work, she would drive to St. Michael's and become the model daughter. 

Lily tried to pull her trunk from the boot of the car, grunting. She had grown taller during the summer, but she was still on the thin side. She itched to pull out her wand and levitate the trunk, but she didn't dare. _Why can't prefects use magic outside of school?_ she thought irritably. _If they think we're so responsible..._

She had received her letter naming her a prefect for Gryffindor the day after she had returned from her fourth year at Hogwarts. That had been a lovely day; Mum was home (she was still in remission then), and she had laughed delightedly when the owl had come swooping in the window she had opened in order to get the garden's green scent into the house. Unlike Petunia, Mum _liked_ owls, and she thought it was frightfully clever the way witches and wizards used them to deliver the post. She fed the owl that delivered Lily's letter and tentatively petted its black feathers (not wanting to offend it), cooing to it about what a fine specimen it was. 

Her parents had hugged her and exclaimed over her being a prefect, while Petunia had sat watching television, stony-faced. 

"Petunia!" Mum had said, grinning. "Didn't you hear? Lily's a prefect!" 

Petunia still stared doggedly at the screen. 

"Petunia!" Dad said, a slight edge to his voice. "Did you hear what your mother said?" 

The tall blonde girl looked up at her father, unblinking. "Yes. Lily is a prefect. How wonderful. Congratulations." Lily actually found herself being impressed by her sister's ability to speak without varying her inflection at all. If speaking in a monotone were to become an Olympic event, Petunia Evans would be a gold-medalist. 

Lily continued struggling with the trunk, mentally cursing it, her sister, the car, her thin arms, her sister, school trains that left at eleven o'clock, her sister.... 

"Let me," said a familiar voice. Lily turned in surprise. Remus Lupin was standing beside her, his Muggle clothes hanging uneasily on his thin frame. His light-brown hair was in need of cutting, covering his ears, and that odd white lock of hair over his brow flopped as he moved. He picked up her trunk as though it weighed nothing, placing it on the ground next to his own trunk. He closed the boot of the car with a _chunk!_ and then stacked both trunks and picked them up while Lily carried her owl cage. The moment this occurred, Petunia floored the car, getting out of the car park as quickly as the old Renault would go, barely avoiding hitting a tall, thin black-haired boy with a severe expression and a hook nose. Lily's owl let loose some uniquely musical hoots as they walked to the platforms, reminding Lily of why she'd named her Calliope. 

She had started off saying to Remus, "You can't possibly carry both of those--" but he had walked on calmly as though they weighed no more than a couple of pillows. 

He said only, "They do block my sight a bit. Tell me when I have to go up steps, will you?" 

She agreed to this, unable to fathom how a boy who looked so thin could be so strong. Perhaps he had enchanted his own trunk so it seemed to weigh nothing, but if he had put a similar enchantment on her trunk, she was unaware of it. She didn't see how he would have had the opportunity. _Maybe he's taken a strengthening potion,_ she thought. That's probably it. And he wouldn't get in trouble for that, either. Except that Remus _hated_ Potions and regularly performed dreadfully in that class.... 

When they reached the barrier between platforms nine and ten, he set the trunks down with a _thunk_ that implied that they were _not_ enchanted to seem weightless. Lily fought conflicting reactions inside herself. On the one hand, what he'd done was _rather_ impressive, if it was pure physical strength, and she pushed down her admiration with an irritated frown, disliking the sort of girls who fawned on boys for their strength or sports prowess and especially not wanting to become one _herself_. Fighting this urge (besides the disgust she was feeling for herself) was her natural curiosity to know _how_ he'd done it if it wasn't natural strength. It _must_ have been magic of _some_ kind.... 

They needed to go through the barrier unobtrusively, so Lily looked about her at the Muggles passing this way and that. She was still holding Calliope's cage and as she turned, she knocked the cage into someone who was suddenly standing very close to her. 

Lily Evans looked up into the face of Severus Snape. He had also grown during the summer, and with his long black hair pulled back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck and his new beard and mustache defining his jaw and setting off his cheekbones, the sight of him made her catch her breath for a moment. _Stupid Slytherin git,_ she thought, irritated. _Never with a nice thing to say to anyone. Why's he have to go and look like that now?_

He was thrusting one of the station trolleys at her. He already had one for his trunk. There were no adults with him either. 

"You might want to use this," he said, pressing the trolley on her. "You would call less _attention_ to yourselves." 

With a disapproving look at her and a sneer at Remus Lupin, he marched casually toward the barrier with his trolley, and in the blink of an eye, he'd disappeared from sight. Lily looked at Remus, who rolled his eyes; he had nice eyes, she thought. Not brown but not green, with a touch of gold.... 

"Let's go," he said briskly, once Severus Snape was out of sight. Lily nodded and put her trunk and Calliope's cage on her trolley. She strode forward purposefully, bracing herself for the little rush of air that came with passing through the barrier. At the last second, as she was walking, she closed her eyes apprehensively (she would _never_ really get used to this, she thought) and when she opened them she saw before her the Hogwarts Express, gleaming in the sunlight in all its glory, making her chest hitch. Even though she was starting her fifth year, it seemed like just yesterday she had received her Hogwarts letter.... 

She and her parents and Petunia had been having a lovely lunch outdoors on the terrace. It was high June, and the roses were glorious, as well as the African violets of which her mother--Violet--was so fond. Suddenly an owl had swooped down and landed on the back of Lily's chair, a large square parchment envelope in its beak. It seemed to want her to take it, and she did just this when she noticed that on the front of the envelope it said _Miss L. Evans, No. 10 Highgrove St., Appleby Magna, Leicestershire._ They hadn't yet moved to London because of her mother's health. 

"It's for me!" she squealed excitedly. What a romantic way for someone to send her a letter, by trained owl! She had been rereading _Wuthering Heights_ again--it was the fifth time. Each time she finished it again she spent several days mooning about the house wondering when _she_ would ever make someone pine away for her because of unrequited love. She had a particular person in mind, whose name was not that far off "Heathcliff." And now here someone was sending her a mysterious letter in the beak of an owl! 

She turned over the envelope and saw an odd purple seal, with a lion, a badger, a snake and an eagle surrounding the letter 'H.' Was that the 'H' she hoped for? 

"How curious," she muttered as she opened the envelope, drawing out the heavy parchment on which the letter was written. As she read, she felt her face start flaming. She threw it down and hoped she could get into the house before she managed to burst into tears. _That stupid Hawthorn Watson,_ she thought, in her mind immediately accusing the boy from whom she'd been hoping to hear. A boy who, even Lily had to acknowledge (despite her crush), was rather crude and caused her no end of trouble. _Always calling me a witch. Now he does this...._ Hawthorn was old for his year, having had some academic difficulty when he was younger. He was already shaving his sparse sandy-colored facial hair, she knew for certain that he smoked, and he had a devil-may-care attitude about him that clashed horribly with Lily's need for everyone to always abide strictly by the rules, which was the main reason why he needled her. And yet, there was also something about him which captured her imagination.... 

"Lily!" her mother called after her, seeing how upset her younger daughter was. Lily ran blindly toward the house, her tears already blurring her vision. As a result, she ran headlong into a _person,_ standing where no person should have been. 

Lily was certain that no one had been there a split second before. The person with whom she had collided was a tall, severe-looking woman with dark hair pulled back very tightly into a bun. She had square-rimmed spectacles and was wearing a plaid skirted suit and a very high-collared blouse with a brooch at her throat that bore the same lion, badger, snake, eagle and letter 'H' as the seal on her owl-delivered letter. 

Lily stared at her, dimly aware that her mother and sister had started screaming. She stood transfixed as she looked up at the tall, thin woman, who looked back down at her kindly. 

"I take it you are Lily?" she asked in precise, clipped tones. Lily nodded dumbly. "Well. You are rather _tall_ for eleven, aren't you? Madam Malkin will have to give you robes for a second or third year and take them in so that they fit you properly and do not swallow you up. You'll get plenty of food at Hogwarts to put some meat on those bones, as well." 

Before Lily could either process this information or ask what on earth the woman was talking about, her father suddenly ran up to her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her away from the strange woman. Still standing with his arms around his daughter, he glared at the intruder in his garden, who stood between them and their house as though blocking their path. 

"Who are you?" 

"I am Professor Minerva McGonagall." She paused, as though they should know who that was. When no one said anything (Lily's father's hands were starting to hurt her shoulders where he clutched her, and her mother and seventeen-year-old sister were also clinging to each other, pale as ghosts) she pointed to the letter on the ground. "I waited until I saw that Lily had read the letter." Another long pause as the Evans family continued to look at her with trepidation. She sighed. "I am the _author_ of the letter, you understand." 

Lily pried her father's fingers from her shoulders and walked cautiously to where she'd thrown down the thick parchment. She picked it up and looked at the signature again. _Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress._ She looked up at the tall woman. 

"_You_ wrote this?" 

"Of course. I suppose you thought it was a prank being played by one of your schoolmates? Do you know anyone at your school who uses owls to deliver the post?" Lily turned and eyed the owl who was still perched on the back of her chair, calmly preening itself. Lily shook her head vigorously. "Well, then," Professor McGonagall continued. "It is a lovely day, but I _do_ have very sensitive skin. Would it be too much to ask that we converse indoors out of the sun?" She was asking a question and yet Lily had never heard anything that sounded so much like an order. She was thoroughly in charge. _Goodness,_ Lily thought with alarm. _If she's the deputy headmistress, what must the headmaster be like?_ She knew from the letter that the school's headmaster was one Albus Dumbledore. 

"You--" her sister finally managed to say, pointing her finger at Minerva McGonagall; "you were a _cat_! Sitting right there, on the path! I was about to tell my mother that a stray was going to try to get our food, and then _you_ were standing there!" 

Professor McGonagall grimaced. "Stupid girl. And how else would I know that Lily had received her letter if I had not been able to watch unobtrusively? I have been lounging under that hibiscus--" she nodded at the plant "--in my cat form all morning. I was very still, so none of you noticed me. Muggles _are_ remarkably unobservant most of the time, but one can hardly complain as it benefits _us_ greatly. We would have to do far more memory charms if that weren't true...." 

Her explanations were remarkably unexplanatory, Lily felt. _Muggles?_ What were _Muggles?_

She led them into their own house, though the French doors that let onto the terrace from the conservatory, then into the kitchen from there and finally into the living room, where she seated herself in the center of the couch, very much like a queen, Lily thought, and folded her hands primly on her lap. The Evans family filed in uncertainly. Lily was fingering the thick parchment of the letter now, and it seemed that her heart had to be beating far faster than it ever had before. She glanced down again at the letter. 

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

She swallowed and sat at McGonagall's feet, and the older woman began to explain to her family that she, Lily Evans, was a _witch_.... 

Lily shook her head to clear it. The platform was bustling with activity as students from first to seventh year tried to weave their way through the crowd and around packs of friends who were catching up and still more parents hugging and kissing their children and wishing them luck. Many of the students from wizarding families already wore their robes. She looked down at her Muggle clothes, which had formerly been her sister's, and felt rather conspicuous in her scratchy brown wool skirt and prim fawn-colored blouse. She wished she'd at least pinned her prefect badge to her blouse, but she'd already pinned it to a set of robes which were right at the top of her trunk, so that she could change easily soon after boarding the train. Amid the throngs of people on the platform, she suddenly felt very lonely. Severus Snape had immediately boarded the train, disappearing, and Remus Lupin had also disappeared into the crowd. Lily had one girlfriend in her year, Cecilia Ratkowski. She and Cecilia didn't get on very well with the twin sisters who were their other dormmates, Moira and Myra Edmunds. Moira and Myra didn't seem to need anyone else, but that was fine with Lily and Cecilia. 

Only--during fourth year, Cecilia had begun to spend more and more time with some girls in the years above them and below them, and other girls in their year who were in Hufflepuff. (The Ravenclaw girls didn't deign to socialize with anyone else, and no one outside of Slytherin _wanted_ to socialize with the Slytherin girls.) Lily was at a loss to explain why her friend had suddenly abandoned her; all Cecilia seemed to do with these other girls was gossip and discuss boys in the most immature way. Sometimes _makeup_ was discussed at great length. Lily's parents had told her that she must wait until the age of seventeen to wear makeup, so she wasn't very eager to discuss what was out-of-bounds for her. 

She missed being able to talk to her friend about their homework, and the news they were able to get from the outside world about Death Eater attacks, which had increased precipitously during the previous year. If she didn't have her other friends in her year, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, to talk to about these things, she would have gone mad. 

Of course, there were times when she was interested in "intelligent conversation" and the boys disappointed her as well. How much time could you devote to discussing _brooms_, for instance? She felt unlucky enough to have found out. And their favorite Quidditch teams. And their favorite comic book, about a Muggle named Marvin. 

She was the only one in her year in Gryffindor who was thoroughly from the Muggle world. Cecilia's mother was Muggle, but her father was a wizard. The Edmunds twins were from a thoroughly wizarding family. James and Sirius' families were wizarding, and Remus and Peter were half-bloods, like Cecilia. 

In some ways, though, even before Cecilia had abandoned her for more "girly" girls, she wasn't really her best friend. She felt that her true best friend was James Potter, although she couldn't tell him that, as _he_ was best friends with Sirius Black, and boys were truly irrational about their best mates. Lily didn't know any boy who would willingly identify a _girl_ as his best friend; it wasn't considered seemly. But Lily felt she could talk to James about anything; there also wasn't the added complication of a romantic entanglement; for the first three years of school she'd had a bit of a crush on Sirius Black, something which she'd shaken off during the previous year. The infuriating thing was that he'd _known_ she was crushing on him and had been quite merciless about exploiting this for humor and making numerous jokes at her expense. The way he'd convinced her to get over her crush was no joke, though. She shuddered at the memory, looking around the platform for a familiar face. 

Then she saw him; James Potter. He was making his way toward her through the crowd, already wearing his black robes and silver prefect badge, his dark hair as messy as ever, his glasses smudged (as usual), and his dark blue eyes flashing. She smiled when he came close enough and they exchanged a quick, friendly hug. She thought of James as a brother, in addition to her best friend. His girlfriend, a pretty dark-haired Hufflepuff girl named Bonita Manetti, was also a prefect; she was walking beside him, her smile widening when she saw Lily. Lily liked Bonnie very much. She wasn't one of the Hufflepuff girls with whom Cecilia discussed silly girly things; Lily wished Bonnie was in Gryffindor, as she was only able to see her during Herbology and Arithmancy. She didn't normally spend time with James and Bonnie together because they seemed to want to be alone at those times. 

"Lily! Come on. There are some special compartments for prefects. We can all sit together near the front," Bonnie said, following soon after James, and also giving Lily a hug. 

"I can help you with your trunk," James said. "Ours are already taken care of." 

"Thanks," she said, picking up one of the trunk handles, while James took the one on the other end and Bonnie carried Calliope's cage for her. "I was afraid I'd never get it out of the car, but luckily, Remus happened by--" James suddenly dropped his end of the trunk, making Lily drop her end as well, and right on her foot. "Ow!" she cried out. 

"Oh, um, sorry," he said awkwardly, picking it up again. Lily frowned and also picked up her end again. 

"James!" Bonnie chided him. "Be careful. Lily could have hurt herself." 

"I'm all right, really," Lily lied, limping forward; the toes on her right foot felt crushed. "Is there something wrong with Remus helping me?" 

She could only see James' back as he walked ahead of her. "Ah--no, of course not." 

"I _did_ think it a little odd that he could handle both my trunk and his own--" she went on, bracing herself for James to drop his end of the trunk again. He hesitated for a moment, but continued onto the train without losing his grip on the handle this time. 

"Both trunks you say?" he asked in an oddly strangled voice. 

She didn't answer; when they reached the compartment, they all collapsed with exhaustion onto the seats. Lily glanced out the window; there were still loads of students on the platform, saying goodbye to their parents. A very tall, thin boy with red hair and shining blue eyes was blushing as his mother hugged him; Lily thought he might be a first year, as she didn't remember seeing him before, and because, in spite of his size, he still looked very young, with abundant freckles scattered across his snub childish nose. He knelt down to talk to his little sister, red-haired and blue-eyed like him. She talked to him also, but Lily couldn't hear any of it. Then she threw her thin little arms around his neck, clinging to him, and he closed his eyes, looking like he didn't want to go; Lily's nose itched and she blew it quickly, feeling her eyes sting. What a sweet family. She turned and looked at Bonnie, who was talking to James about her summer holiday. Why couldn't I have had a sister like Bonnie or a brother like James? she thought. Instead I'm stuck with horrid Petunia. It was bad enough to be with Petunia on a regular basis, but sitting with her in doctors' waiting rooms, anticipating the bad new about a biopsy was even worse....She shook herself to make this thought go away, then sighed and looked out the window again, but the red-haired boy was gone. His mother was holding his sister on her hip and waving, along with other students' family members still on the platform. 

Then Lily felt that jolt under her as the train prepared to leave the station, and a fluttering in her stomach as she thought about returning to Hogwarts. This year she would be taking her Ordinary Wizarding Levels, or O.W.L.s. She was terribly nervous about them, even though she knew she would probably do just fine. Still, the nightmares about missing examinations or writing out a Transfiguration essay during the History of Magic exam had already started to plague her. She was a perfectionist but also easily distracted and, when she was being honest with herself, somewhat lazy and a procrastinator to boot. She had excellent marks on practical tests--especially Potions and Charms--because she just seemed to have a natural talent, but she knew she wasn't doing her best work when she dashed off a History of Magic Essay in an hour, written in her largest handwriting, so it would be a full three feet long. She did it anyway, because she'd put it off so long. As the landscape passed by, she sighed; she knew she had terrible work habits (which wasn't helped by the fact that all of her friends had terrible work habits too), but she was determined to improve this year, as it would probably be very difficult to fudge things on the O.W.L.s. 

They watched the platform and waving people disappear from sight; soon they could see nothing but thick greenery on either side of the train as they began the long journey north. Lily felt very, very tired; James and Bonnie were talking animatedly and she hoped they wouldn't think her dreadfully rude if she just leaned her head on the window and took a little nap.... 

* * * * *

_Bang!_ The door to the compartment slid open abruptly and Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew looked up in surprise. Sirius and Remus had been playing Exploding Snap while Peter watched, and for a second, the noise had made Remus think that Sirius had singed off his eyebrows again. He had also thought he detected a certain Slytherin's scent coming from the corridor, but had hoped that the person producing the scent would continue past their compartment. He groaned inwardly when he saw him standing in the doorway. 

Severus Snape surveyed the compartment containing the three Gryffindors with clear distaste. Sirius, less restrained than Remus, wasted no time in making it clear that Snape was not wanted. "Sod off, Snape! This is our compartment!" 

Snape ignored him, dragging his trunk into the compartment and then sitting heavily next to Peter Pettigrew, who further shrank into the corner where he'd already been. 

"You heard me, Slytherin!" Sirius said, standing. "Clear off!" 

Severus Snape looked at him with a unique blend of malevolence and calm Remus never witnessed on anyone else's face. He raised one eyebrow, then took a small book out of his pocket and opened it where he had marked his place. Remus' sharp eyes saw that the book's title was _Romeo and Juliet._ This seemed odd to him, and he tried to think of a witty remark to make about it, but came up with nothing; witty remarks were Sirius' and James' territory, and he usually found himself tongue-tied and only thinking of witty remarks hours or even days after the opportunity to speak them had been at hand. 

Snape had covered the title with his hand as he began to read, evidently determined to behave as though he were welcome in the compartment. Sirius came closer and Remus could tell he was about to lose it. 

"I already told you, Snape--_clear off!_ Shouldn't you be traveling in a _coffin_, anyway? With some soil from your native country?" 

Severus Snape slammed down his book on the leather seat, making Peter jump. He stood up quickly, towering over Sirius and glaring down at him, black eyes into black eyes, the hatred quite mutual. His voice was low and even, his every syllable pronounced with the utmost precision. 

"I would not be here if I had any choice about it. All of the compartments on the train are full except for the prefects' compartments, and as I am not a prefect, I did not attempt to go there. Perhaps the three of you would like to see whether your prefect friends will take you in? Then you will not have to ride in the same compartment as me. And for your information, although I have lived in London for many years, I was originally born in Scotland and Scotland has again become my home, so we are _surrounded_ by soil from my native country." He smiled wickedly and Remus shivered. Could it be? Was he actually admitting--? 

Snape sat and picked up his book once more. Remus frowned; at this rate Sirius would get into a fight before they even reached school. He looked at Peter, whose eyes were very wide; clearly he too wondered whether they'd be seeing a fight soon. Remus cleared his throat. 

"Um, whose turn was it, Sirius? We weren't done playing." 

Sirius turned and looked at him; Remus raised his eyebrows, hoping he would calm down and just ignore Snape. They usually managed to ignore Peter just fine, after all. The small round boy had been following them around since he'd been in the boat with them when they'd crossed the lake in their first year, along with James Potter, and he was also their fourth roommate in Gryffindor Tower. 

"It's my turn," Sirius said, with a resentful glance at Snape, calmly reading his book and unwrapping a sweet he'd removed from his pocket. Remus' nose twitched. Toffee. His mouth watered. When would the witch with the food trolley arrive? It seemed like ages since he'd eaten breakfast. 

After playing through a few more explosions (Remus saw that Snape was trying very hard not to do a different kind of exploding--with anger--when this happened) Remus Lupin finally detected the scent of pumpkin pasties wafting toward him. However, before the trolley reached their compartment, they heard what sounded like a scuffle and quite a lot of banging in the corridor. Curious, Sirius went to the door and opened it. Equally curious, Remus joined him in the doorway. 

A thin red-haired boy who could only be a first year was struggling to drag his large trunk through the corridor, while the witch with the food trolley berated him for not being in his compartment. 

"Please, miss, I don't have a compartment--I'm still looking--" 

"You can't roam about the corridor with that bulky thing! You're in the way!" she cried shrilly. "Use yer loaf! You!" she cried, at Sirius, Remus or both--it was unclear. 

"What?" Sirius said with a defensive tone to his voice. 

"You take this boy in with you. I have to get through and he's in my way." 

"Wait--we want to buy some things first--" Remus said quickly. He took out his money and bought some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs and Spring Surprises. Sirius bought Fizzing Whizbees and Peter bought some more Beans plus a pumpkin pasty. Snape didn't buy anything. 

After they'd paid for their purchases, they allowed the boy to drag his trunk into the compartment and the witch was able to get the trolley past him, sniffing disdainfully the entire time. The red-haired boy looked up at the giants in whose compartment he now found himself. Well, there were two giants, anyway; the boy with light brown hair punctuated by that strange white lock over his brow was only a little taller than him, and Bill thought it was quite possible that he might be taller than the round-faced boy cowering in the corner. 

Remus could smell the fear on him and he felt sorry for the boy. He patted the seat next to him. "Here--sit. What's your name?" 

The boy sat down between Remus and Sirius, who started opening their sweets. "Bill. Bill Weasley," he piped in a high voice. "I'm a first year." As soon as he said it, he winced, as his first-year status was painfully clear. Remus tried not to laugh, remembering that he still did the same, said things and then winced, wanting to snatch the words back into his mouth, hearing how stupid they sounded. _Of course he's a first year,_ he thought. _As if he could be anything else._

But he gave the boy a sympathetic smile and said, "I'm Remus Lupin and this is Sirius Black. Over there is Peter Pettigrew," he nodded at the smaller boy sitting in the opposite seat. "We're all Gryffindor. _That's_ Severus Snape; he's Slytherin." Snape jerked his head up, his eyes burning at Remus'. "I am perfectly capable of introducing myself, Lupin. I choose not to," he said acidly. He buried his head in his book once more. Remus saw Bill swallow and look wide-eyed at Snape. Trying to distract him (and feeling his stomach move with hunger inside him) Remus opened his beans and offered the bag to Bill, who reached in and pulled one out. However, before he could bite into it, Remus snatched it from his hand, opened the window, and threw the bean off the train. Bill looked puzzled and a little hurt. 

"Sorry," Remus apologized. "I should have picked one for you. You don't want to eat a dung-flavored one, do you?" 

"How do you know what it is?" Bill asked him. 

"Er--I have a really good sense of smell," he said truthfully, although he didn't volunteer the reason for his having this ability. "Here--I usually vet them for the others." He took out a bean and sniffed it. "This is okay. Tomato sauce." 

Bill took the bean and began to chew it thoughtfully. He nodded to show that Remus had been correct. He went on sniffing out beans, removing them one by one and placing them in Bill's hand. 

"Toast with marmalade, tar--you don't want that--" he threw the tar bean out the window. "Asparagus--here Peter, you like those--lemon chiffon, roast beef, Spotted Dick, rotten egg--" another one out the window "--bouillabaisse, peppermint, garlic, Yorkshire pudding--" 

"Wait!" Sirius said in a yelled whisper. He glanced at Snape, who was again studiously ignoring them. "Which one is garlic?" 

Bill handed it to him. "That one," he said innocently. 

"_No, Sirius_," Remus started to say quietly, but it was too late; his friend was already pulling his wand out of his pocket and pointing it at Snape, who was deep in his book. He held up the bean and glared at Severus Snape. 

"Hey, Snape!" he said suddenly. The Slytherin boy looked up, his eyes full of hatred, just as Sirius waved his wand and cried, "_Expello Bean!_" 

The garlic bean in his hand shot across the compartment like a bullet, thanks to Sirius' banishing charm. Unfortunately, Severus Snape's mouth was slightly open in surprise, and the bean flew right between his parted lips. A second later, he was at the open window, spitting it out. He turned back to the interior of the compartment, murder in his eyes, glaring at Sirius Black, who was laughing uproariously and pointing at Snape. 

"Oh! Oh! It's too funny!" he managed to say in the midst of his laughter, holding his stomach, almost breathless. Snape rounded on him and pulled out his wand. 

Bill made a sound like "_Meep!_" and grabbed his trunk, hurtling toward the door and sliding it open with a bang just as a corresponding bang sounded behind him in the compartment and he heard Sirius Black cry, "_Hey! My face!_" 

Bill Weasley didn't know what Severus Snape had done to Sirius Black's face, but he was getting out of that compartment before it happened to his own face and he had to eat by putting food in his ear or up his nose or something equally horrid. 

Remus didn't usually throw his weight around, but he was concerned about the first year boy who had bolted when Snape was getting ready to retaliate against Sirius. He grabbed both of them by the scruffs of their necks and flung them into their seats. Severus Snape rubbed his neck after he landed; Sirius' face was covered in boils and he wasn't very happy about his friend trying to break up a perfectly enjoyable fight. 

"We certainly are _strong,_ aren't we, Lupin?" Snape growled at him, glaring suspiciously. "No girls are here at the moment to appreciate your showing off, by the way." 

"I wasn't--" he started to respond reflexively, then stopped himself, breathing deeply through his nose; he had been working on controlling his temper during the summer, and he wasn't going to throw away all of that hard work now. 

"I wonder," Snape went on musingly, "how is it you are so strong? Taking a potion the headmaster should know about? Something with steroids, maybe? Of course, that still wouldn't explain your hearing or sense of smell, " he continued to muse. 

"Shut up," Remus responded. "Between the pair of you," he glared at Snape and Sirius, "you've scared off that poor first year." 

He strode to the door of the compartment and slid it open. He could see Bill at the end of the car, about to cross into the next one, dragging his heavy trunk behind him. 

"Oi, you! Um--Bill!" 

But the boy didn't look behind him or hesitate for a moment; he looked desperate to get as far away from Remus, Sirius and Snape as possible. Remus sighed and returned to the compartment, closing the door. 

"He's run off. Are you two happy?" 

Snape didn't answer, but retrieved his book from the floor and sat down to read again, glowering. Sirius--also not speaking--sat down with his arms folded across his chest next to Remus, who took out his wand and began painstakingly removing the boils, one by one. However, a small dot still marked Sirius' skin where each boil had been even when Remus was done. He hoped his friend wouldn't be too upset. Truthfully, Remus thought Sirius was a bit vain about his looks, and didn't make any effort to find a girlfriend of substance, rather than just the prettiest one who would have him at any given moment. Remus sighed. He knew who he would like to be with, but that wasn't going to happen. 

Then he thought again about the boy, Bill, and hoped he would be all right. For once, he thought, someone was running away from him, scared to death, but it wasn't because of anything _he'd_ done.... 

* * * * *

_Bang!_ The door to the compartment slid open abruptly and Lily looked up in surprise, jolted out of her sleep. She had no idea how long she'd been dozing. The young red-haired boy she'd seen on the platform stood in the doorway, his trunk visible behind him. His hair clung to his forehead in sweaty curls and he looked miserable. 

"Um," he hesitated, seeing three older students, all wearing silver prefect badges; "can--can I sit with you? Everywhere else is all full. Or--" he hesitated again. 

"Or what?" James wanted to know; Lily was surprised. He was just as new as her at being a prefect, but suddenly he projected an authority she'd never seen from him before. 

"Or they just don't want me," he finished softly. He looked very embarrassed. "I've been dragging my trunk all over the train since we pulled out of the station, and no one will let me sit with them." 

Lily checked her watch; it was already noon. "You've been wandering all over the train for an _hour?_ You poor thing! Of course you can come in with us!" 

He swallowed. "But--but isn't this compartment for prefects?" 

"Don't you worry about that," James said, getting up to help the boy with his trunk. "Who said you couldn't sit with them when there was room?" 

The boy shrugged and looked shifty-eyed. Lily was starting to wonder whether he was being completely truthful. "I dunno. I don't think they went to the Hogsmeade village school, so I didn't know them." 

"Where were they? What compartment?" 

Lily patted the seat next to her and he sat down, his ears immediately turning red, which made her smile. 

"I'd--I'd rather not say. I mean--I haven't even gotten to the school yet. I don't want to get a reputation already for grassing on someone." 

James smiled warmly at him. "Good man. All right, it doesn't matter. But remember--when you're at school, if someone's bothering you, a prefect can give them detention or take away house points. The house competition is very important. They'll think twice about bothering first years if they're going to cost their house points. Their other house mates will be all over them if they keep doing it." 

"Thanks," he said softly, smiling shyly at the three prefects. He felt very lucky to be where he was. He was starting to think he'd be in the corridor for the entire trip. He'd thought the witch with the food trolley might actually throw him off the train, and felt lucky that she'd merely told him off for blocking her way until he'd been temporarily taken in. 

"What's your name?" Lily asked him. 

"Bill Weasley." 

"I'm Lily Evans and this is James Potter. We're the fifth-year Gryffindor prefects. And this is Bonnie Manetti, one of the fifth-year Hufflepuff prefects." 

"Hello," he said politely. "It's nice to meet you." 

Lily smiled broadly at him, and so did Bonnie. James laughed. "Now, now--you keep that up and both my girlfriend and my friend who's a girl are going to be crushing on you. Cut that out." Bill blushed furiously at the idea of girls four years older than him crushing on him. He only dared look at Lily out of the corner of his eye; she seemed impossibly grown up and beautiful, her long dark-red hair falling past her shoulders in waves, her large green eyes like emeralds, her smooth skin like cream, her smile like a dozen suns. And the other girl had full red lips and a dark beauty that stunned him, with large doe-like chocolate-brown eyes and curling black hair that framed her heart-shaped, olive-toned face. Bill assumed that Bonnie was James Potter's girlfriend and Lily was the girl-who-was-his-friend, but he didn't know how on earth the older boy had chosen; they both seemed like goddesses to him. 

The boy seemed far more "normal" to Bill than the girls, with messy black hair and glasses he had to keep pushing up his nose, like Bill's dad. He had a spot on his chin that he occasionally picked at, and he looked like he might already be shaving (or at least, he looked like he _should_ shave--there was a slight growth on his face already). When he smiled, his eyes crinkled up and Bill felt like he knew everything was going to be all right; he thought that James Potter was a very good choice for a prefect. 

"I hope I'm in Gryffindor." Suddenly, Bill realized that he'd said it aloud. He glanced at Bonnie. "Or Hufflepuff--" he added, not wanting to be thought rude. 

She smiled back at him. "That's all right. Are your parents magical?" He nodded. "What houses were they in?" 

"They were both in Gryffindor," he answered, for once confident. He had heard so much about it over the years, he would have to hang his head in shame if he hadn't remembered _that_. "But I know that doesn't mean I'll be Gryffindor, too." 

"Any older brothers or sisters?" James asked. 

"I'm the oldest. My brother Charlie is in sixth year at the Hogsmeade school, and Annie's in second year. My youngest sister, Peggy, is almost three. She'll start school next year." 

Now Lily beamed at him. "I saw her saying goodbye to you; she's adorable. She looked like she had quite a lot to say." 

Bill clearly hesitated. "Actually--well, she was saying--" 

"What?" 

He sighed. "She was saying that I'm blue." 

"Oh--that you're sad to be leaving home?" 

"No--yes--well--" he bumbled around. How could he explain Peggy? No one in the family understood why she kept calling people colors. 

"She meant I'm actually blue. The color blue. She does this all the time. She called Mum orange yesterday. Called Dad green last night. She'll do that; she'll just point at one of us and say, 'You're red!' or whatever. We thought at first that she actually didn't know her colors yet, but when Mum tests her on that kind of thing, she knows it all perfectly. We can't figure out why she does it." 

Bonnie shrugged. "She's just a wee thing. She'll grow out of it." 

When the witch came with the food trolley, she seemed to have forgotten that she'd told Bill off for having his trunk in her way. James very generously bought sweets and pumpkin pasties for everyone, and Bill sat in awe, watching and listening to the older students, not quite sure he should believe his good fortune, and feeling far better about leaving home as they neared Hogwarts. He finally seemed to have landed on his feet. The prefects really seemed to look out for the younger students. Maybe he would be all right after all. 

* * * * *

Bill was glad he hadn't had supper yet, as he thought he was going to throw up. Seeing that enormous man and crossing the lake in the small boats was bad enough, but waiting in line to be Sorted was the most nerve-wracking thing he'd ever experienced in his life. 

"_Attenborough, Hamilton_," the deputy headmistress called out. Her name was Professor McGonagall, and her voice rang through the hall; "_Baddock, Ford. Broadbent, Miriam._" They all quickly were proclaimed Slytherins. The Slytherin table erupted in cheers each time and, Bill noticed, they made rude gestures to the other tables which were cleverly camouflaged so the teachers couldn't see _just_ how rude they were. 

After that, Peregrin Booth, Mary Anne Boxwood and Wallis Cassell (who was a girl) all became Gryffindors, and it was that table's turn to celebrate. Rhea Cooper became the first new Hufflepuff, giving them their turn, but then Raisa Czaikowski and Finster Edwards caused the Slytherins to start celebrating again. Finally, Paul Firth and Lawrence Flitwick became the first new Ravenclaws and Juliet Hathaway became another Gryffindor. Bill watched her go to the Gryffindor table; she'd been in the same boat with him, along with Cooper and Flitwick. That meant so far his boat had had a Gryffindor, a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw. Did all of the boats get one person from each house? he wondered. He swallowed. _Oh, no. I can't be a Slytherin, I can't, I can't...._" 

He knew all about the different houses, and he'd heard the Sorting Hat sing its song. He'd always assumed that he'd be going into Gryffindor, just like his parents. What if he wasn't in the same house? What if he was in Slytherin? How would they react? 

Then Mafalda Hopkirk became a Slytherin and twin girls named Houseman became Ravenclaws. More cheering from those tables. _Why do I have to be at the end of the alphabet?_ Bill thought miserably. 

He listened with his heart in his throat as Lorelai Kidder, Rembert Leonard and Gregor Lovelace were named a Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Slytherin. As Lovelace made his way to the Slytherin table, Bill glanced over to see who had been sorted into that house the year before. He grimaced when he saw Gilderoy Lockhart, who'd been one year ahead of him at the village school, and had been completely insufferable whenever Bill had had occasion to come into contact with him. More than once, Bill had heard him telling a girl how pretty she was and oh-drat-he-didn't-have-his-assignment, maybe-he-could-copy-hers...? It didn't surprise him a bit that Lockhart was sorted into Slytherin, so now Bill was _really_ averse to winding up there too. _I cannot be in the same house with Gilderoy Lockhart._

Roxanne Maine-Thorpe also became a Slytherin, and Bill swallowed; she had been at the village school with him as well, and was extraordinarily pretty, with cornsilk-blonde hair and luminous blue eyes. She glanced briefly at Bill before walking toward the cheering Slytherin table. 

It was getting close now. Four more first years became Ravenclaws, interspersed with some Hufflepuffs, including one of his best friends from the village school, Jack Richards. This was followed by his other best friend, Orville Simpson, becoming a Gryffindor. They were finally on the W's. Mabel Walters became a Hufflepuff, and then finally Bill heard what he'd been waiting for: 

"_Weasley, William._" 

He walked forward nervously. _I will not throw up, I will not throw up..._

Then he was sitting on the stool with the hat on his shoulders, completely covering his head. And he heard the voice. 

"_Well, well, well, what have we here? I haven't had a Weasley in over twenty years. And you're an O'Connor as well, on the distaff side. Interesting. Ah, I am to understand there will be three more of you? Isn't that nice! Hmm. Prodigious magical abilities, I see. Not always following the rules, but well-intentioned. A leader--looks out for his brother and sisters. Helpful. A sense of justice. Hmm..._" 

And then--it was silent for a minute. 

"_Hello?_ he thought at it after another minute of silence. "_Are you still thinking?_" Silence. He waited some more. Finally, it spoke again. 

"_Interesting. You waited, and then only asked once. Patience is a rare thing in one so young. Yet you are also not afraid to ask the probing question. I think we have one more for GRYFFINDOR!_" it finally cried loudly. Bill sighed with relief and removed it from his head, putting it back on the stool so that Eli Webster and Gilbert Wimple could become Hufflepuffs and Alexander Wood, someone else he knew from the village school, could become another Gryffindor, striding over to the table and sitting down next to Bill with a very large smile on his smudged, dirty face, amid the cheers and yells for the final first year to join their house. Bill was flanked on his other side by his friend Orville, who was also grinning at him. 

But suddenly, when the noise from the celebrating had died down, a very small voice was heard from the back of the Great Hall. A small dark-haired boy still stood by the doors; he was wringing his robes in his hands and looked like he might very well cry. 

"Excuse me," he said quietly, although his voice echoed all around the hall. "What about me?" 

Bill saw Professor McGonagall's eyes widen, and she strode quickly to the headmaster. Bill looked at him in awe; he was an extremely tall man with a very long silver beard and hair, half-moon spectacles and sparkling blue eyes. He leaned over and said something none of them could hear, and then she whispered a response. He shook his head. Then she ostentatiously checked her list once more, followed by her looking up at the boy again, clearing her throat. 

"I'm dreadfully sorry," she said, still managing to sound quite imperious. "I must have overlooked your name. Please come forward and put on the hat." 

The boy looked very, very relieved. He strode forward and when he reached the stool with the hat he looked like he'd died and gone to heaven. He lifted it up and sat, then lowered the hat onto his head. 

They all waited. And waited. All of the professors started murmuring to each other, but the headmaster did not appear to be paying any attention, keeping his eyes on the boy with the hat. At length, Professor McGonagall approached the hat and lifted up the edge of it. 

"Is everything all right in there?" she enquired. 

The boy lifted the hat from his head. "It--it wants to speak to the headmaster," he said shakily. Bill looked around at the other Gryffindors; was this a usual sort of thing? he wondered. But they all looked as puzzled as he felt; indeed, the entire hall had gone utterly silent as Dumbledore replaced his tall, stately wizard's hat with the decrepit old specimen that each first year had recently tried on. Now they watched and waited while Dumbledore had some sort of private conversation with the hat. Eventually, he removed it from his head and returned it to the boy. 

"There was a small misunderstanding, but I think we've cleared it up," he said to him, his eyes twinkling at him kindly. 

The boy put the hat on again and sat, and very soon the hat was saying, "HUFFLEPUFF!" Bill thought there were words that came before that, something like, "Might as well be," but he wasn't quite sure. The boy took off the hat and sprang happily over to the Hufflepuff table, where they were cheering for having one more person. 

When the boy had risen from the stool, Bill had been briefly distracted by the sight of a large tawny owl flying in one of the high clerestory windows and swooping down onto the high table right in front of the headmaster. However, Bill saw that when the old man read the missive delivered by the owl, the sparkle went out of those blue eyes and he looked very grim indeed. Bill imagined that headmaster of Hogwarts must be a very difficult job. 

Bill gazed around at the Great Hall now; he'd been too fixated on the Sorting Hat and with the worries running round his head to notice it properly before. The hundreds of candles floating overhead shed a warm glow on everyone and everything and the bewitched ceiling showed a picture of the night sky out-of-doors that was a riot of stars on sapphire velvet punctuated by a thin, silvery crescent moon. 

The headmaster stood, still looking grim. "Welcome to Hogwarts!" he said, trying to sound jovial. "As I'm sure you are all quite hungry, I will give out the start of term notices after our meal. So for now, all I will say is--tuck in." He sat again, and Bill looked around, waiting to see the servants who would bring in the food, as the tables were all completely devoid of any nourishment. But then it seemed that he blinked, and before him was a feast of staggering proportions. Soon he had a plate heaped with steak and mashed potatoes and buttered peas and a goblet full of pumpkin juice. He and Orville grinned at each other again as they began to shovel mashed potatoes into their mouths. 

Remus Lupin dug into his food with relish; he felt as though he hadn't eaten in a month. Then his sharp hearing picked up on something Professor McGonagall was saying; she was leaning slightly toward Dumbledore and muttering, "_Albus, this is highly irregular. He wasn't on the list..._" 

"_I know, I know, but I don't see any harm in giving him a chance. Perhaps within a few months--_" 

"_And what if he doesn't? What then? And how is he here at all? I know I didn't send him a letter...._" 

"_Minerva, I can't be concerned about that now; I'm afraid there is something of greater import to worry about..._" Remus looked around; he was obviously the only one who could hear their very quiet conversation. He had also noticed the tawny owl, just as Bill Weasley had. He saw the headmaster slip the letter to Professor McGonagall now, and saw her face blanche as she read it. She, in turn, passed it to Professor Sprout, next to her. Professor Sprout taught Herbology and was the head of Hufflepuff house. She looked faint upon reading the letter, which she handed back to Professor McGonagall, who returned it to Dumbledore. 

Remus Lupin turned back to his food, wondering what on earth could be more earth-shattering than the extreme irregularity of a first-year whose name wasn't on the list? He suddenly wished he was a prefect, like his friend James, so he'd feel comfortable asking about this. He looked up at James, who was laughing at some joke of Sirius'. Then he caught Lily Evans' eye; Lily was sitting next to James. Remus felt himself redden and he looked down at his food again. Whatever it is, he thought, if the headmaster wants us to know about it, we will. 

When they'd polished off the puddings, the golden plates were magically spotless once again and Dumbledore nodded at two of the teachers. Bill saw a round, squat witch with wiry grey hair go to a tall boy with dark blond hair and greyish-blue eyes who sat at the Hufflepuff table. Then Professor McGonagall, who was also the head of Gryffindor House, came to the Gryffindor table and put her hand on James Potter's shoulder. Bill swallowed. James looked up in surprise, frowning, and Lily Evans looked very concerned. Bill saw that Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were also frowning. 

"Come with me please, Potter," the professor said gently to him. James looked at his friends, giving a small shrug, but he also looked like he did not think he could be receiving good news. The two professors led the boys to a door behind the high table, and when the door was shut, the headmaster stood again and looked round the hall. 

"As I said before, welcome to Hogwarts. Normally at this time, I would be reminding you that the forest is out-of-bounds and that Quidditch trials will begin next week, but unfortunately, I must instead tell you that there has been another Death Eater attack, this time one that affects two Hogwarts students." 

Severus Snape jerked his head around. Was that why Potter was pulled away by McGonagall? he wondered. He almost felt sorry for the other boy, in spite of the bad blood that had been between them for the previous four years. He suddenly remembered, quite vividly, being summoned to the headmaster's office just before last Christmas holiday and being informed of his own parents' deaths. However, since _his_ parents were killed by Aurors, it was assumed they were guilty of something (even though they weren't), and he did not garner much sympathy from his fellow students upon being orphaned (although some of the Slytherin students took a brief break from harassing him). 

He'd suddenly had to go to his uncle in Dunoon for his Christmas holiday, in Scotland, instead of down to Oxford, to his home. _Home._ It had been less than a year since his parents' deaths. He still thought of Oxford as _home._ His parents had both grown up in Scotland, on the Firth of Clyde, but they had moved to Oxford soon after he was born, so that was the only home he had ever known. He couldn't even understand his uncle's accent half the time. (His parents' accents had softened with years of living in Oxford.) He grimaced; James Potter would, no doubt, receive much sympathy if anyone in his family had died. He didn't need Severus Snape feeling sorry for him. 

"Early this afternoon," the headmaster went on, "three Death Eaters led an attack in Diagon Alley which appeared to have a particular target, an Auror. Two people, a married couple, tried to assist him, as he was outnumbered, but they were killed. Soon after, Lord Voldemort himself arrived and killed the Auror, the original target. His wife attempted to retaliate, but she was also killed. The Auror, his wife, and the two people who died trying to protect him were the parents of two Hogwarts students. Their heads of house are speaking to them now. I am sorry that the term must begin on such a dark note, but I do want to remind you all that here at Hogwarts, you are all quite, quite safe. I am still conferring with the school's Board of Governors concerning the issue of Hogsmeade visits. When a decision has been reached, you will all be informed. However, even should a single Hogsmeade visit be permitted, only third years and up who have had their forms signed by a parent or guardian will be permitted to go. I know this is disappointing, but the Board of Governors want to make certain that no Hogwarts student is needlessly endangered. We are all very saddened by the events of this afternoon; two families have been split asunder. The Board of Governors wish to prevent such tragedies from occurring in future." He sighed, and Bill Weasley thought he looked more than a little doubtful. 

Then the headmaster led the school in singing the school song, although 'led' was perhaps too strong a word, Bill felt. As the words streamed out from his wand into the air above them, each student and teacher sang them to his or her favorite tune. The jumble of noise was over mercifully quickly; Bill had the distinct impression that no one was feeling very much like singing and they wanted to get it over with. 

Before Lily Evans and a girl who he assumed was a sixth-year prefect herded Bill and the other first years up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower, he looked at the door where James Potter had gone. He'd been so nice on the train, Bill thought. Figures he'd have parents who would die trying to defend someone else. He wondered whether James Potter's parents had been Gryffindors too. It seemed likely. He looked at the other Gryffindors marching up the stairs with him, at the shocked and saddened faces who knew now what James Potter was being told. Although their house had been suddenly touched by tragedy, Bill was also incredibly proud to be where he was. He was determined to do his best to be a credit to Gryffindor. 

* * * * *

James looked at Professor McGonagall. She was usually quite unapproachable-looking, but now she was sniffing and had rather shiny eyes. Then he saw that Professor Sprout was even worse; her nose was red and so were her eyes, and she clutched a handkerchief in her stubby fingers with the dirt from the greenhouses permanently ingrained under the fingernails. 

He glanced at the other boy, a seventh-year from Hufflepuff whom he knew to be David Bones. David didn't look any more sure than James felt. The two of them stood next to each other, waiting to find out why they'd been brought here by their heads-of-house. It was quiet in the room for what seemed a very long time. 

Finally Professor McGonagall spoke with difficulty, after clearing her throat. "James, David--I am afraid the headmaster has received some dreadful news." James looked sideways at David Bones; this was going to be very bad, he suddenly knew. Normally McGonagall would have called them _Potter_ and _Bones._ First names were _not_ a good sign. She turned to David Bones. "David," she said, "your father was an Auror--" 

"_Was_?" the boy said hysterically, clutching at Professor Sprout's hand. 

"--who was targeted by You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters," she went on with great difficulty. "He--he was caught unawares and outnumbered. James' parents tried to help, but--" she paused and caught James' eye. "They were killed. By the Death Eaters. Then You-Know-Who arrived and--and killed your father, David. Your mother was grief-stricken and tried to curse him so--so he killed her too. I--I am so sorry," she finished quietly. James felt like a very large block of ice had taken up residence in his stomach. _His parents were dead. Mum and Dad. Gone._

David Bones had thrown himself on Professor Sprout, crying freely, and now she also let herself go, crying and hugging the boy who was more than a foot taller than her, while he took comfort in her motherly presence. He sometimes muttered, "_No, no, it can't be...._" 

James felt his eyes sting. He swallowed. _I'm a prefect. I'm not going to cry in front of others._ He looked up at Professor McGonagall. 

"They--they were heroes, then," he said, his voice quavering just a little. She gave him a small smile and a nod. 

"Of the highest order," she said stoutly. 

He nodded, feeling empty inside. 

_Dead. _

__

His parents were dead. 

He was an orphan.

Suddenly, he heard a muffled cacophony through the heavy door; those still in the Great Hall were singing the school song. James felt hypnotized by the odd noises; he didn't know how long he stood there dumbly, paralyzed. Finally, feeling like a large doll, Professor McGonagall led him out the door and up to Gryffindor Tower. The other students had left after singing the song. The two of them didn't speak. When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Professor McGonagall said, "_Lacewings_!" and the portrait swung open. He turned to her. 

"Thank you, Professor. Good night," he said stoically. He had a feeling that if he said more, he'd be blubbering as badly as David Bones. 

She nodded kindly at him. "If--if you ever want to talk, Potter--" 

He nodded back at her. "Thank you," he said again, his voice dull. He climbed in through the hole and closed the portrait behind him. The common room was empty; after the long train ride and devastating news, everyone had evidently decided to go to bed instead of socializing in the common room and talking about their holidays. James sat in an armchair before the fire; he wasn't feeling like going up to his dorm yet. He didn't want to see his friends, to cope with their sympathy and their awkward but well-meant tactless comments, trying to prevent himself from crying in front of them the whole while. He swallowed and then felt a single tear trickle down his cheek. Alone, he could cry. 

Then he heard a step on the stair and he hastily tried to wipe his face. He looked up and saw Lily Evans making her way across the common room. She still wore her Hogwarts robes with her prefect badge over her Muggle skirt and blouse. 

Lily's heart was in her throat. Here she'd been thinking of her poor mum all day, wondering about the biopsy, and feeling sorry for herself should she eventually find herself motherless, and then with no warning at all, James' parents were dead and he was an orphan. 

"Oh James!" she choked; he thought she looked like she'd already been crying. "I'm so sorry!" He stood and she threw her arms around him. Then he did it; he let go, let the loud wails and torrent of tears escape him. He could only do this with Lily, he realized. He adored Bonnie, but somehow he always felt like he had to be strong around her, so she wouldn't stop thinking him worthy of being her boyfriend. It wasn't that he thought she was superficial; he knew it was his stupid ego preventing him, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't let Bonnie see him fall apart; it was as unthinkable as crying on Sirius or Remus or Peter. 

To James, Lily was the sister he'd never had, just as Sirius was the brother he'd never had. She'd already cried on him over her mother's illness during the previous two years; he'd always been there for her. Now his parents were dead and she'd been waiting for him, waiting to be the one shoulder he knew he could cry on. He held her tightly and wept, the sobs punching their way out of his stomach as he clutched at her, and she held her friend, her would-be brother, and wept out her heart with him. 

* * * * * 

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	2. The Way of All Flesh

The Lost Generation **Title:** The Lost Generation (1975-1982) (02/20)  
**Author name:** Barb  
**Author email:** blpurdom@yahoo.com  
**Category:** Mystery  
**Sub Category:** Romance  
**Keywords:** MWPP Lily Snape Bill Weasley  
**Rating:** R  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA, Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent, Harry Potter and the Time of Good Intentions  
**Summary:** Bill Weasley begins his education at Hogwarts in 1975, in the middle of Voldemort's reign of terror. He never suspects that the Gryffindor prefects he looks up to, Lily Evans and James Potter, will eventually have a son who saves the wizarding world, nor that the Weasley family will eventually play an important role in the Dark Lord's fall. All he knows is that in a very scary wizarding world, Hogwarts is a safe haven where he has always longed to be--until, that is, there are whispers of vampires and werewolves, of Death Eaters and traitors, and a Seeress pronounces a Prophecy which will shake the wizarding world to its very foundations....  
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.   
**Author notes:** _The Lost Generation_ is the prequel to the _Psychic Serpent Trilogy_, which begins with _Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent_. There are events and characters mentioned which appear in other books in the trilogy (such as two Weasley sisters who were born between Charlie and Percy). While it is not absolutely necessary to read the trilogy first (the third book is in progress) it may be helpful in some respects. A FAQ file concerning the entire story arc is also available on the Psychic_Serpent Yahoo Group website (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Psychic_Serpent .) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**The Lost Generation**

(1975-1982) 

Chapter Two

** The Way of All Flesh**

  
  
  


_Tuesday, 23 December, 1975_

James Potter woke with a start. 

He'd had the _dream_ again. 

It started off the same each time, like a memory, rather than a dream. He was back in the huge timbered Hogsmeade Village Hall, where his parents and David Bones' parents had had their state funeral. They were heroes of the wizarding world, the four of them, and every dignitary in the Ministry was there, the Hogwarts Board of Governors, all of the Hogwarts teachers, and as many of the students as were able to wangle permission to leave the castle. It was standing room only, and the overflow crowd outside the hall had to content themselves with listening to the eulogies over a magical sound system that blasted the dignified voices to the entire village. 

In the dream, as in life, James sat in a chair in the front row of the hall, as he had at the actual funeral, beside David Bones and David's older sister, Alice. The three of them were immediately in front of the stage, which held the four flag-draped coffins. The Potters' coffins were draped with Welsh flags, the red dragon gamboling over a field half white and half vivid green (when he first met Lily, James thought her eyes were the same color as the green on the Welsh flag); the Bones' coffins carried Scotland's cross of St. Andrew, the white "X" stark and simple on the brilliant blue. 

The Minister of Magic stood and spoke at the lectern which stood between the two pairs of coffins. Then an Auror who was David Bones' father's best friend. More and more people stood and went to the lectern, to say a few words about Elspeth King Potter, Henry James Potter, David Alan Bones, Sr., and Audrey Rourke Bones. When the Minister said the name "Henry," James was jolted from his fog. He'd let the man's pompous voice slide around him, not penetrate his consciousness, until he heard that. It sounded so strange to hear his dad called "Henry." No one called him that who knew him. Everyone called him Harry, and usually his mum affectionately called him Hal. As others came forward, James didn't pay much more attention, only noticing whether each person used the proper name for him. If they said "Henry," as a few people did other than the Minister, he immediately started looking up at them with suspicion. _Fraud,_ he thought. _You don't even know his name._

In the dream, as in life, he also stood when the tune of the wizarding anthem began to play. The ghostly band of enchanted instruments ground it out, with none of the irregularities James actually preferred in human-played instruments. The perfection was almost more annoying than any trombonist who hit a sour note, or a trumpeter who bleated when he should have blared. He knew it was coming now with a certainty that increased each time he had the dream. Each step along the way was something simply to be endured. The witches and wizards who moved in ritualistic, mechanical exactitude were one such step, folding up each flag that had draped one of the coffins, handing two to him and one each to David and Alice. The strains of the crowd singing filling his head as he held the flags to his chest: yet another step. In the dream, as in life, he did not cry. Nor did he sing. He turned slightly to look at his friends behind him. Bonnie and Lily were singing, even though Lily had told him many times that she thought the words to the wizarding anthem ridiculous, as they were set to the tune of _God Save the Queen:_

_ Witches and wizards all  
We do not stand in thrall  
To Muggle might.  
We, whom they never see  
Flying aloft and free,  
We ever shall hidden be  
From Muggle sight. _

__

Not slaves of king or queen  
And never clearly seen  
By Ministers.  
Free to be what we are  
Free as a shooting star  
All equal and on a par  
Brothers and sisters. 

Lily had also not made any bones about what she felt was the inherent hypocrisy in the anthem's words, as the wizarding world was hardly as egalitarian as the lyrics implied. Remembering this was yet another step. Then the friends and colleagues of his parents and the Boneses lifted the four coffins to their shoulders and walked solemnly out of the hall, while a piper wearing the MacBean tartan, for the Bones family, and a piper wearing the MacGregor tartan, for James' mother's clan, played _Flowers of the Forest_ and followed the pallbearers. (An adequate spell for making bagpipes play by themselves had yet to be developed.) James and David and Alice followed the pipers, the other mourners falling into step behind them. James saw Lily and Bonnie walking together, holding hands, tracks of tears on both girls' faces, while Sirius and Remus walked together behind them, Peter bringing up the rear. In his dream, his friends all seemed to be more real than the other people in the hall, but that wasn't really different from life; in life, everyone else had seemed to be a painted backdrop to James, mere illusions. 

Outside the hall, the four coffins were loaded into horseless hearses. He assumed the Bones coffins were going to be taken somewhere for an interment. His parents' coffins were not; they had left instructions to be cremated, so they were being taken to the crematorium on the other side of the village. They had also left instructions to James that his father's ashes were to be scattered over Bristol Sound, off the south coast of Wales, while his mother's were to be scattered over the lake at Hogwarts. However, since they had died together, he somehow thought they should be together in death, as well, and he had instructed the crematorium to give him two urns, but not one for each parent; he wanted each to contain a mixture of their ashes, so when he spread his parents' essence over the two bodies of water, they would still be together. The crematorium staff had agreed to the unusual request. 

The hearses were gone: the final step before real life and his dream life diverged. James braced himself, knowing what was coming. The dream had always played out the same way....Suddenly, an explosion rocked the ground beneath his feet, and he went to his knees. Standing before him, in a cloak with the hood pulled up so his face was shadowed, was the Dark Lord himself: _Voldemort._

His wand was pointed at James, who could not see the face, but a cold voice said, "_You will die just like them. Stupid and brave...._" 

"_Noooo!_" he cried each time he had the dream, before looking around frantically and finding himself, very abruptly, in his parents' summer cottage in the country, in Godric's Hollow. He was somehow standing again, holding his own wand out, and then suddenly, there was a flash of green light and the sound of speeding death.... 

James sat up in his four-poster, his heart going a mile a minute, sweat dripping down his face. He parted the deep red curtains and fumbled on his bedside table for his glasses, bringing the round tower room into focus. Stumbling to the windowsill, he poured himself some water from the silver jug that was kept there. The almost-full moon was sending a clear, white light into the still room. James drank his water and tried to stop shaking, tried to think of other things. 

He looked at Remus' empty bed. _Poor Remus,_ he instinctively thought. From the first time his friend had confessed to him, Sirius and Peter where he went every month during the full moon and why, the three friends had conspired to work out a way to help him, to make this time easier for him and to make him less isolated. For three years they'd been trying to master the Animagus transfiguration on their own, relying in part on James and his Invisibility Cloak to get into the Restricted Section of the library and find the information they needed. That alone had taken the better part of six months in second year. (He wasn't able to go every night; he needed to get _some_ sleep.) 

He must have scanned through thousands of books, looking for the right information. There were also books to be feared, books that sprayed ink in his face or made a carillon of bells begin to ring in alarm, or books that had even tried to bite him and box his ears. It was downright hazardous to read something from the Restricted Section. Filch had very nearly caught him several times because of the various spells Madam Pince had used on the books. 

And then, when they finally had the information they needed, painstakingly copied by James onto a dozen parchments which had to be charmed so that they could only be read by someone with the correct password ("_All shall fear the Marauders_"), there was the issue of sneaking out of Gryffindor Tower to practice, and also finding an isolated place in which to do it. All in all, James speculated that they could have learned the transfiguration in a year or less if they'd had all of the information right at the start and didn't need to sneak around. 

Now, finally, after all their work, they were going to be able to accompany Remus during the full moon. In the morning, they would all be leaving on the Hogwarts Express for the Christmas holiday, which they were spending together at Sirius' home, Ascog Castle, on the Isle of Bute in the Firth of Clyde. James would have been going in any case, as the Blacks were now his guardians until he reached the age of seventeen, but Remus and Peter had received permission to come as well. The Lupin family had been dubious, as the moon would rise full and bright on Christmas Eve, but Sirius had assured them that they had very secure dungeons at Ascog and that Remus would be comfortable while waiting for his transformation, but unable to harm anyone. 

The Blacks didn't know about Remus' "condition." Sirius was not convinced that if they knew they would allow him to invite a werewolf home for the holidays. They were acquainted with Peter, but then, the Pettigrews were a very old wizarding family. They'd fallen somewhat on hard times, but they'd once been large landowners, there were four Ministers of Magic in their family tree (two each on Peter's mother's side and his father's side), and they were also known to be descended from three of the four founders (all but Slytherin). 

That Peter seemed a poor representative of this illustrious family was something that wasn't discussed in his hearing. James knew he was all right, and even though Sirius and Remus still thought of him as something of a tag-along at times, they knew James would never agree to his being excluded from their group. He'd said to them early in first year, "We're going to be in school together for _seven years._ How would you like to spend that time being the one outcast in your dorm, watching three friends who do everything together and knowing you're not wanted? If we're not going to be his friends, who will be?" 

He hadn't known then that Remus was a werewolf; that didn't come out until early in second year. Remus had agreed immediately, and James felt he knew why: if anyone was a likely candidate for the outcast, it was the werewolf, wasn't it? So they had included Peter in all of their activities, given him help in classes, and waited patiently (well, Sirius wasn't exactly patient) for him to catch on during their three-year struggle to become Animagi. Truthfully, if they hadn't had to spend so much time helping Peter along, it might have gone faster, but he was officially their friend and James, for one, didn't begrudge him the time they'd had to spend doing this. They weren't going to accompany Remus until they could all three do it together. Upon that they'd agreed long ago. Now that Peter was finally comfortable with his transfiguration and could hold it for a very long period of time, they could finally do this. 

James heard Sirius and Peter snoring behind their bedcurtains. He hoped Remus was all right. Every month, the day before the full moon was very hard on Remus. He shook and shivered feverishly all day, and flinched whenever anyone touched him in the slightest. He'd again borrowed James' Invisibility Cloak to go to the hospital wing to get some relief. James thought it must be the worst thing in the world to be a werewolf, to not only suffer the transformation for three nights out of every twenty-nine, but to have these dreadful symptoms on the day before, as well. 

He'd forgotten about Remus during the previous month, unfortunately. He'd selfishly slipped out of Gryffindor Tower to see Bonnie, using the map they'd created (James simply couldn't let go to waste some of the arcane information he'd gathered in the Restricted Section while looking up the Animagus Transfiguration). He and Bonnie weren't ready to be completely intimate yet; they hadn't even come close during their times alone together. James still had pangs when they collided noses when they kissed. He worried about whether she would notice that spot on his chin, whether his breath was bad, whether he'd become too sweaty while running to meet her and now had body odor as a result. In short, he was a nervous wreck about just _kissing_ her, and did not feel remotely ready for the anxieties that were sure to accompany going further. In one part of his mind, he wanted to very badly, but in another he was utterly and completely terrified of having his abject incompetence revealed. 

And then--he'd returned to the Gryffindor common room in his Invisibility Cloak and there _they_ were, kneeling on the hearthrug, kissing desperately, their breathing raspy, evidently too worked up to notice that the portrait had opened and closed. He'd checked the map before entering. He'd seen the names of the people in the common room, even seen that the names were very close together. It never would have occurred to him-- 

His hands were laced in her hair and his mouth had moved down to her neck. Her dressing gown had slipped from her shoulders and her head was thrown back to give him more of her pale neck. What really struck James, though, was her passion. He had never thought of Lily that way, and here she was with Remus on the hearthrug, all of her usual decorum abandoned as she held him to her and he kissed and sucked her neck and-- 

Remus finally came to his senses, though. He had lifted his head suddenly and sniffed the air, his eyes narrowed. James froze and resisted the urge to suck in his breath. _Sometimes he looked incredibly like a wolf even in his human form._ James had been attempting to move across the common room under his cloak. He'd been praying he could reach the stairs without being discovered. He did _not_ want to witness his friends together like this.... 

"What is it?" Lily had whispered to Remus throatily. Her skin was flushed and her chest rose and fell rapidly. _Stop that_, James had ordered himself. _You're not supposed to be looking at Lily's chest. She's with Remus. At least, now she is. And she's like a sister to you._

"James," Remus had said simply. 

Lily had frowned, sitting back on the rug. "_What?_" 

Remus hadn't answered her but rapidly stood and crossed the room to where James stood, his nose telling him exactly where to go. Invisibility Cloaks were useless around a werewolf. James, for his part, had remained rooted to the spot, knowing he was about to be unveiled and helpless to stop it. Remus had reached out unerringly and pulled the cloak from his friend, anger contorting his features. 

"You couldn't have remembered your promise to let me use the cloak," he practically growled, "but you're not above using it yourself to do a little spying!" James had been unable to tell whether the sweat that had broken out on his brow was because of his usual monthly problems or because Lily had gotten him so worked up. James had moved his jaw, unable to speak, to defend himself. 

Lily, the moment she saw James, had widened her already-enormous green eyes and snatched up her dressing gown from where it had fallen, sprinting to the stairs to the girls' dormitories and running up them rapidly. Remus had turned his head, watching her go. Then the anger seemed to seep out of him, and he threw himself into an armchair, running his fingers through his hair, shaking. James had sat in a nearby chair, stuttering out an apology and trying to explain about meeting Bonnie, and getting the nights wrong.... 

Remus had shaken his head while James was speaking, and when he was done said in a hoarse voice, "No, James. It isn't your fault. Actually--I'm glad you came in before anything else could happen." He was shivering feverishly again as he spoke, making James think that he looked anything but glad. 

"I--I can sit with you here, if you'd like some company, Remus," he said quietly, still rather chagrined at interrupting his friends, and letting Remus down. He was also still somewhat shocked by the thought that Lily had been on the hearthrug with Remus, kissing him passionately and being kissed.... 

Remus gripped each of his arms with the opposite one, more like he was restraining himself than hugging himself. "_Go now_," he said between gritted teeth. "_I don't want you here._" 

James swallowed. "I'm--I'm really sorry, Remus....Please don't be mad at me...." 

"It's not that!" he had yelled at James. "Go--before I don't let you!" 

His shaking was worse than ever. _What did he mean by that?_

"Remus--" 

"Get out!" Remus shouted violently at him again. And yet--the hungry look James saw in his eyes clearly said, _Please_. It was a desperately pleading, not an angry order. _Please go,_ Remus was clearly saying. James nodded quickly and grabbed up his cloak as Lily had grabbed her dressing gown, practically running up the stairs.... 

James returned to his bed, not closing the curtains around him but continuing to gaze at the moon, bobbing in the night sky. Soon they would be at Ascog, and they would all be together on the night of the full moon. _We're going to be there for our friend._ James let this idea take over his brain as he drifted off to sleep once more, hoping he would not again encounter the dream about Voldemort, and see the dreaded green flash and hear the cold, evil voice.... 

* * * * *

Severus Snape woke with a start. 

He felt dreadful. He had that awful feeling that he needed to go back to the hospital wing for more Porphyry Potion, to manage his porphyria symptoms. He especially had the feeling that it couldn't wait until morning. He groaned and sat up. He didn't think it likely that his lightheadedness was from lack of sleep. At this rate he'd faint before reaching the hospital wing. He sighed. Better wake the damn prefect. 

He'd been more than a little miffed that he hadn't been named as the prefect in his year, but he wasn't at all surprised by who _was_ appointed. _Bloody pet_, he thought. The Ancient Runes teacher, Professor Took, was the head of Slytherin House, and he'd named his favorite student in the year as prefect. _Just because I don't brown-nose and tell him what he wants to hear._ Actually, he reflected, it was probably because he hadn't taken Ancient Runes. In third year he'd begun to take Muggle Studies (the only Slytherin to do so in many years--his theory was _know thine enemy_) and Arithmancy. He thought Arithmancy was little better than Divination, but he had wanted to avoid Care of Magical Creatures. He was _not_ good with animals. He'd actually _wanted_ to take Ancient Runes (he'd bought the text in his first year and had already taught himself quite a lot), but the little exposure he'd had to Took as his head of house had convinced him that he could _not_ tolerate having the man for a teacher for five years, and Arithmancy had been the only tolerable thing left. At least Professor Vector didn't seem to take Arithmancy too seriously. Severus' healthy skepticism was usually greeted with a sly smile. Was the professor perhaps more than a little aware of the silliness of it all? he wondered. 

In any case, he was going to have to try to wake Karkaroff and convince him to accompany him to the hospital wing, so that if he fainted he wouldn't be alone, and so if they ran into Filch he could say that he'd gotten a prefect to take him to see Pomfrey so they shouldn't get detention for being out of bed. (Not that he'd mind getting Karkaroff a detention). 

Igor had been insufferable before fifth year, but it was nothing compared to Igor the Prefect. Severus had had to fall back on minor things to cut him down to size--such as using Karkaroff's least favorite nickname. 

"Iggy!" he called now, shaking the boy to wake him. _Gah. He sleeps like the dead._ "Karkaroff!" he tried this time, in case the boy was still pretending to be asleep because he refused to answer to the hated 'Iggy.' 

The smaller boy finally rolled over and groaned, propping himself up on his elbows. "Go away, Snape. Leave me the hell alone." 

"I need to go to the hospital wing. I'll get detention if I'm caught unless a prefect goes along." 

Karkaroff smirked. "And remind me why I should care...?" 

Severus Snape's mouth worked unpleasantly. "Because if you do this--I'll owe you." 

Karkaroff considered this now. Severus didn't like the sly look that came over his face as he sat up the rest of the way and said, "I'll get my dressing gown and slippers." 

_Uh oh,_ Severus thought. _What's that git going to try to make me do now?_ But then he had that feeling in his gut again and winced; he really needed to get to the hospital wing. 

They walked through the dungeons for some time before finally reaching the stairs to the entrance hall. They continued up the marble stairs, Severus having to repeatedly wait for Karkaroff, who was dragging his feet sleepily (and to be as annoying as possible, Severus assumed). When they finally reached the hospital wing and opened the door to the infirmary, they discovered that someone else was already in one of the beds. Remus Lupin was lying on his side, his eyes squeezed tightly shut, beads of sweat on his brow. He shivered feverishly and he was a ghastly grey color. Then he opened his eyes, which stared into space, unseeing. There was a strange red light in those eyes. 

Severus Snape stopped in alarm. _What was he doing here?_ he wondered. It was clear, though, that he was not well, whatever the specific malady happened to be. Severus hugged the wall nervously, making his way to Madam Pomfrey's office to tell her he had come for some potion, not wanting to get anywhere near the other sick boy, in case he was contagious. 

Karkaroff didn't take notice of any of this. "I'm going now. Don't forget--" he added, "--you owe me." Now Lupin was sitting up abruptly, staring at the two Slytherin boys fearfully. Severus could see him swallow; what was _he_ afraid of? Oh, right, he remembered. Severus Snape, the big bad vampire. Over the centuries, many people with porphyria had mistakenly been labeled vampires, until now, the Muggle world assumed that was always the case, and they were ignorant of the fact that there really _were_ vampires. He scowled at Lupin. Fine. If he wanted to be afraid of him, he was welcome. _Maybe I should file my incisors to a point,_ Severus thought. 

Karkaroff left and Severus rapped on Madam Pomfrey's office door, watching Lupin out of the corner of his eye. She opened it quickly, surprised to see him. 

"Snape! What are--" She stopped when she saw his face, its jaundiced color and his pale lips. She helped him to a bed and whispered, "I'll get the potion. Professor Sprout just brought me a fresh batch of spleenwort. I've been brewing potions all day." 

As she tried to leave his bedside, he grabbed her hand. "What's _he_ here for?" he asked quietly. 

She looked irritated. "Always coming down here for sleeping draughts. And he'll probably ask to sleep here again, instead of in his own dormitory. But don't worry--I'll take care of you first." She looked disapprovingly over at Remus Lupin again before leaving to get Severus Snape's potion. 

Lupin was sitting up in bed, staring unnervingly at Severus Snape. _If I didn't know that he hated me I'd swear he fancied me,_ he thought, recoiling at the thought. _Gah. Even if I liked men, I could do better than that any day._

"Are you staying?" Lupin asked him abruptly, his voice throaty. 

"What?" 

"I said are you staying?" 

Severus Snape frowned. "What's it to you?" 

Lupin started breathing more rapidly. "If I thought I wouldn't be alone, I wouldn't have bothered to come all the way down here...." 

"Oh, you've got to have the infirmary all to yourself now, have you? Sorry, but some of us have _legitimate_ medical concerns," he said, stopping himself before he blurted out his specific 'concern.' "_Sleeping draught._ Why don't you sod off and leave poor Madam Pomfrey alone? And me as well?" 

Lupin swung his head around jerkily. "I--I had expected to be alone, is all," he explained more quietly, not answering Snape's nastiness with more of the same. Severus Snape never knew what to do when someone did this; it was a way of life in Slytherin House to raise the stakes. Backing off was unheard of. 

The Gryffindor boy slid off his bed and put his shoes back on, and pulled his dressing gown on over his pajamas. He ran to the door. "Tell Madam Pomfrey--tell her I'm feeling much better--" 

It was clearly a lie. _You look like hell,_ Severus Snape felt like telling him. Instead he said with a smirk, "Afraid to be alone with me?" 

Lupin stopped and scrutinized him very seriously; the look in his eyes was quite unnerving. _Did Lupin fancy boys?_ Severus wondered again. And yet--there was something more like the expression of a hungry predator lurking there. Like a wild animal. 

"Yes. I am definitely afraid to be alone with you," he said levelly, his voice almost inaudible. 

Severus settled back against his pillows, his mouth twisting again. "Huh! Gryffindor bravery my arse." 

Lupin was at his side in two steps, grabbing a fistful of the Slytherin boy's dressing gown with each hand, pulling him up. Their faces were very close, and Lupin seemed to be _sniffing_ Severus Snape. 

"It's not what _you'd_ do to _me_ that I fear," he said quietly. Then he flung him back on the bed and walked unsteadily to the door, slamming it behind him. 

* * * * *

Lily Evans did _not_ wake with a start. 

She shivered under her covers; she hadn't closed her bedcurtains completely, and she could see that the bright moon was making patterns on the wall of the room, dancing trees, the branches leafless. The macabre dance of the naked limbs was hypnotic--or at least, she hoped it would be. She hoped watching would finally help her to fall asleep. Lily had been lying awake for hours, unable to get her mind to settle down, her thoughts coming in a steady stream.... 

Only a month ago it had happened. Ever since September she had been noticing Remus Lupin more and more, and Severus Snape as well, feeling torn and conflicted, uncertain about how she felt about either boy. On the one hand Snape was in Slytherin, which was an excellent argument against even being civil to him most days. He certainly never went out of his way to be civil to others--especially Gryffindors. 

On the other hand, she had noticed on the first day of the term--quite against her will--how striking he looked as he was maturing, how penetrating his dark eyes were, how they seemed to reach into her soul when he looked at her, even if it was to say something cutting (she had noticed that his sharp remarks were usually about her house or her friends, but not usually about her). He had been assigned to her as her Potions partner, and working side-by-side with him had given her the opportunity to get to know him in a way she hadn't expected. The cutting remarks had lessened considerably, and they'd managed to develop a working relationship that was mutually beneficial. In spite of now living with an uncle who ran an apothecary, his technique wasn't up to hers, and having to watch to make sure he didn't make mistakes made her more vigilant about her own work. 

When he'd taken ill in class one day, she'd even accompanied him to the hospital wing and had sat with him while he'd taken a potion Madam Pomfrey had brewed for him. Lily wished she knew what it was; the matron had started to say the name, remembered Lily was there, and thought better of it. 

They'd talked for some time while he waited for the potion to take effect. He was very precise with his language, which she appreciated, as she prided herself on precision as well, but it did make it difficult to get to know him better. Their interactions were so _formal._ She did learn a lot about him, though. About his parents (although he refused to talk about their deaths), about his uncle, about living in Oxford, and moving to Dunoon. He'd learned to sail during the summer. Yachting was a popular pastime on the Firth of Clyde. There were yacht races in the bay down in Rothesay, on the Isle of Bute, in July. He and his uncle and their crew of wizards had come in a respectable fourth place. They didn't actually use magic for this; they sailed Muggle-style, for the sport of it. This shocked her, since he was a Slytherin. (But she found out that his uncle--and his late mother--had been Ravenclaws.) He would describe to her in precise detail the various types of knots he'd had to learn, and what each was for, but instead of listening carefully, she found herself letting his already-deep, mellifluous voice slide over her...she watched those large, dexterous hands with their thin, articulate fingers, as they pantomimed tying the various knots.... 

She also watched his face when he spoke of sailing. It was an activity that seemed so out of character for him. Indeed, he had never done it before his parents died. He'd led a very circumscribed, uneventful life down in Oxford, a life hemmed in by the bells chiming in the church towers. _Nine o'clock._ Read three chapters of _Hogwarts, A History._ Then, _twelve o'clock._ Luncheon. _One o'clock._ Afternoon constitutional. _Three o'clock._ Read two chapters of _The Dark Arts._ And _five o'clock._ Tea. Report to parents the day's activities, what was seen on the afternoon walk, what was read and remembered.... 

Sailing on the Firth of Clyde with his uncle was an unpredictable way to spend the summer; you never knew when a cooperative breeze would come up, when you would be able to sail effortlessly down to the Isle of Arran for the day, or even further south, skimming along the west coast, perhaps putting into Blackpool or Liverpool. Being away from the land, surrounded only by the shimmering water in all directions, was both the most exhilarating and most frightening experience of his life. 

He had very sensitive skin, so he'd been wearing long trousers and sleeves and a hat, and constantly reapplying the salve his uncle made for him on the exposed parts of his skin. She didn't say anything about this. She knew others speculated that he was a vampire. She thought this was preposterous; he was a boy, just a normal boy. He was perhaps more formal and less-sure socially than many people his age, but she sensed no bloodlust in him, even when he was making his cutting remarks to her Gryffindor friends. She bristled when he did this (although she was less concerned about his hostility to Sirius than she had been in the past), but at the same time, she wondered whether he was jealous of their camaraderie, their easy friendship. He didn't have that with anyone in his house; there were people with whom he sometimes associated, but it almost seemed that they did it against their will, because they were afraid of him. He wasn't exactly the center of a close-knit circle of friends. 

And yet, even though she _did_ sometimes get a sense of bloodlust lurking just under the surface with Remus, he was unfailingly gentle with her and everyone else with whom he came in contact. In Professor McGonagall's class, when they were transfiguring animals into useful objects around the home, while most people were turning rabbits into slippers and toads into tea-cosies, Peter was turning a dove into a small pincushion. To test whether he'd succeeded, Peter had put a pin into his poor bird, who was now covered with embroidered cloth but still clearly a living, breathing creature, Remus had cradled the poor thing in his hands and plucked out the pin, carefully healed the bleeding wound with his wand. She had watched how gentle he was when he'd done this, and when he'd raised his eyes to hers afterward, it had been very hard to look away. 

She had found herself looking at Remus quite a lot in the months leading up to _That Night_, as she thought of it. There was just something about him that drew her, something very different from Sirius. He was so unassuming, so gentle, so convinced that he didn't deserve friendship, so glad to have it. She had never known anyone who was gentler and yet stronger; she'd seen other perplexing demonstrations of his strength since he carried his and her trunks on the first day of the term, and she had come to the conclusion that he was just very strong. She tried to deny it deep down, but a part of her was as attracted to this idea as to his amazing eyes, and the way his hair flopped over his brow just so, and the way he didn't laugh out loud when he found something funny (as James and Sirius did); he ducked his head instead, while a small smile crept across his face.... 

She knew she was doing it again. She was developing another crush on a friend. _Didn't you learn your lesson with Sirius?_ she demanded sternly of herself. But it didn't matter. Her friendship with Severus was progressing in a slow but predictable pattern that could very well result in a romantic relationship (if he were ever to let his guard down), but she didn't know what to think about Remus. Sometimes she thought she caught him looking at her, and other times he seemed to ignore her existence altogether. Once a month, he inexplicably became ill and needed to see Madam Pomfrey for days running, and then he was fine afterward. It may have been going on for years; she was so focused on Sirius when she was younger that she was unsure about this. The afternoon of That Night she had asked Remus whether he wanted her to accompany him to the hospital wing, but he had been violently adamant that he not only didn't want her to accompany him, he wanted her out of his sight. 

She had run upstairs after that, burying her face in her pillow, inexplicably breaking into tears. _He hates me._ No, she had told herself, trying to be sensible. _But he's annoyed with me. I'm just a pest...._

She had lain in bed, sleepless, much like this night, for hours on end, picturing him telling her to leave him alone, his face contorted, her heart breaking into a million pieces.... 

And then she hadn't been able to stand it any more. She just hated the idea of his being angry with her. She had decided that she would swallow her pride (this was _very_ difficult for her at the best of times). She would apologize and beg to still be his friend, on whatever terms he wanted. She had hoped to get him to have that light in his eye again, that expression he had when their eyes had met in the transfiguration classroom and it seemed they were the only two people in the entire world. 

Her crush on Sirius had never been like this, she knew. Sirius had made jokes at her expense. Sirius had exploited her willingness to do things for him, until finally, he had-- 

She shivered at the memory. She had never known it was possible to feel so repulsed by someone to whom she had previously felt so attracted....but then, she hadn't known _he_ had the capacity to behave in that way.... 

Lily had shaken with nerves. _She was planning to break school rules._ This was not something she did lightly. She wasn't even certain it was something she'd done _at all_ before (at least, with premeditation). She was going to go to the boys' dorms and try to get Remus to come down to the common room to talk to her. It was thrilling and terrifying to contemplate this. What if Sirius woke up and found her there? What if he told all of Gryffindor House? She had donned her dressing gown and started walking down to the common room, on the verge of fleeing back to her room several times before reaching it. Then it turned out she didn't need to risk going into the boys' dorms after all. He was already there by the fire, shivering and sweating at the same time, shaking convulsively, his legs drawn up to his chest, his arms hugging them. He had turned his head in alarm when she entered, his eyes widening. 

"Lily! I thought I told you--" 

"I know, Remus. But I--I just couldn't bear to think of you being cross with me. I had to talk to you, to apologize." She sank down on the floor next to him, hugging her own legs to her chest. His shaking seemed to grow worse when she was near him. 

"_Please go,_" he had said, so quietly she could barely make out the words. 

She touched his arm with her hand. He responded like a dog with its quarry's scent high in its nostrils; they flared as he turned to her. His eyes went wide and the fire reflecting in them made them look reddish. 

"_Lily--_" he choked, as though his life-force were being sucked from him. He covered her hand with his. She had the strange feeling that he really did want her to stay, in spite of his words. She moved closer to him and put her arm around his shoulders. 

"I'm not leaving you alone," she said insistently. "You shouldn't be alone, in this state." She brushed his hair out of his face tenderly with her other hand. He followed the movement of her hand with his nose, breathing her in as though she were an exotic flower. She caught her breath as his nose nuzzled her hand for a second before his lips made contact with her palm, as though he just couldn't help doing it.... 

She hadn't expected this at all. She'd thought they might sit together and talk, that she might distract him from feeling poorly. The moment she felt his lips on her skin, all of her nerves suddenly stood to attention. She thought it was possible she had stopped breathing. His face moved over her hand again, smelling it thoroughly, memorizing her scent as if he planned to track her.... 

He turned to look at her then; the red light in his eyes no longer seemed to be a trick of the firelight. It didn't scare her, though, and she watched, fascinated, as he leaned over and captured her lips with his. She put her hand against his chest to brace herself, and to push him away if need be. What would she do if he opened his mouth? That had been part of her undoing with Sirius. When he had suddenly, mercilessly (she thought) thrust his tongue into her mouth, she thought she would choke to death. Surely people didn't _like_ doing this? she had thought. _It was disgusting._

And yet--Remus was different. Suddenly she had found herself absolutely aching to taste him, to breathe with his breath. She parted her lips slightly and when she felt his tongue lightly brush against her lower teeth, she finally felt as though she was starting to understand why people did this, why they wanted to. He moved his mouth against hers a little more insistently, slowly bringing his tongue against hers in a gentle caress that was making her react in ways she also hadn't expected. She felt perspiration rise on her skin, she felt a warmth in her chest, and before she knew it, he was removing her dressing gown, she was on her knees before him, his mouth clamped on her neck, his hands--_God,_ she thought, _he has amazing hands...._

Her mind whirled as they continued, their breathing becoming more labored, their pulses racing. Then, without warning, Remus lifted his head and sniffed the air. 

"_James._" 

Everything after that was a fog to her. Remus had crossed the room and removed the Invisibility Cloak from James (where had he gotten _that?_ she wondered) and started screaming at him. James may have answered, she wasn't sure. Mortified, remembering only the amazed and dazed expression on James Potter's face, she had snatched up her dressing gown and run up the stairs to her dorm as though a wild animal was chasing her. 

A month later, lying in her bed watching the moonlight play over the still room with the three sleeping girls, she played it all over in her head again. _This was Remus._ Suddenly, they were kissing and pawing each other on the common room floor. How had that happened? It still seemed as though that had been some other person down there, not the self-possessed Lily Evans, prefect. His touch had released a cascade of desires she hadn't known lived within her, and they frightened her. She had felt utterly out of control, her body running the show instead of her mind. She _always_ had to be in control. The alternative was unthinkable to her. And yet--the way he had made her feel-- 

This was _Remus_, she thought again. Remus with the luminous hazel eyes. Remus with the shy smile that made her catch her breath. Remus who was the nicest boy she knew, and therefore the last one she would ever expect to make a pass at her. But this wasn't a pass; what Sirius had done was a pass. (Everyone knew what had happened, too, once they saw what she'd done to him.) This was--she didn't have a word for it. It had been mutual, that was for sure. Remus had seemed to need her so, to want her. Sirius--he had simply assumed he could _do_ certain things to her, that she would _let_ him because of her crush. It was very different. Remus seemed to be doing everything as much for her as for him. She remembered his nose gently nudging her hand.... 

And then, the next day, he had ignored her. She had expected--she didn't know what she expected, but it hadn't been _that._ Her heart had gone crashing down into her feet. Had he just been trying to get what he could, like Sirius? It had felt so different, though. She didn't want to think it of him. And when she decided to try to talk to him about it that night (he had avoided her all day), she found he wasn't in the common room. She steeled herself to invade the boys' dorms, as she'd planned to do previously, treading ever so lightly on the stone steps. To her shock, the entire fifth-year boys' dorm had been empty. She had cautiously opened the curtains on one bed after another. All four boys were out of Gryffindor Tower. Suddenly, a prefect's rage had risen in her. _They would lose Gryffindor house points if they were caught!_ And that James. _He was a prefect! He should know better!_

Lily had gone back to bed, but not to sleep (she'd hadn't slept a wink all night). She kept hearing the sound of howling wolves coming from the Forbidden Forest. The howls made the hair stand up all over her scalp. Were they just common wolves? she wondered, then stopped herself. Best not to think about what things lived in the forest. She'd heard too many stories for that to be conducive to sleep. 

Three nights in a row, she'd gone to the boys' dorms and found their beds empty. She was quite nervy about it now. On the morning after the third night, she cornered James when he was leaving the prefects' bathroom and pulled him into an empty classroom. 

"Where were the four of you last night? For the last _three_ nights?" she had demanded. He looked shocked. 

"In--in bed, of course," he lied. He was quite pink; normally, James Potter gave a new meaning to _pale._ Not as much as Severus Snape, but close. 

"_No,_ you weren't. I checked your dorm. All three nights I checked! What are you _thinking_? Do you want to send Gryffindor into negative house points?" 

"Is that _really_ why you're asking?" he had responded, bristling. "Because I could ask you the same. Girls aren't supposed to be sneaking into the boys' dorms. You were probably far more likely to be caught _in_ our dorm than we were to be caught _out_ of it." 

She had opened her mouth to respond and shut it again, confused. _He could get her a detention!_ A _month_ of detentions. She clamped her lips together angrily (how _dare_ he get the better of her!) and turned on her heel, leaving the room as quickly as she could, seeing red. A moment later he caught up with her and grabbed her arm. 

"Wait! Lily--I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to threaten you or blackmail you or anything. But--but _why_ were you checking to see that we were all in our dorm? Why did you go up there, really?" 

She stared at him helplessly. _Because I'm a lovesick idiot._ That would be the truth. She wracked her brain for a plausible lie, but nothing came to her. Finally, feeling she could trust James, of all people, she said softly, truthfully, "I was worried about Remus." 

James stiffened, and his hand closed more firmly around her arm, so that she was tempted to cry out in pain, but she forced herself not to. "I see," he had said, and then she remembered his face when Remus had removed the Invisibility Cloak; didn't he and Bonnie do things like that? She had no idea, and would never dream of asking. "We--we were worried about him too," he said in a sudden rush. "That's why we weren't there. We'd taken him to the hospital wing and stayed with him. Madam Pomfrey let us. He's our friend, Lily. We wouldn't let anything happen to him. Don't worry about Remus." 

He wasn't looking at her; his eyes slid around her, but wouldn't meet hers. _He's lying,_ she felt sure. _He won't look me in the eye._ "If you say so," she answered reluctantly. How do you accuse one of your best friends of telling a bald-faced lie? She wanted to, very badly, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She walked away from him sadly. _James was lying to her._ That was almost as disillusioning as Remus kissing her passionately, then completely ignoring her. Both seemed contradictory to their basic natures. That meant there had to be a good reason for what each of them had done. But what _was_ it? 

Now she had another thing to think about. After a week, her relationship with the four boys normalized again somewhat, and Remus started to behave toward her as he had previously (but it was as though he had completely forgotten ever kissing her). James stopped going pink when he spoke to Lily, and looked her in the eye. She tried to forget about Remus. She tried to focus on her assignments. She wrote History of Magic essays and practiced learning new charms and brewed complicated potions and prepared for the O.W.L.s....But then the cycle had repeated itself, and Remus' physical condition had again deteriorated.... 

He had been shivering and perspiring during the day again, she remembered, staring at the underside of the canopy above her bed. Whatever malady overtook him on a regular basis, he was once more in its grip. She turned over in bed, wondering if he had yet again taken refuge in the common room. Did the other boys send him there? she wondered, growing angry with them on his behalf. Then she realized that this didn't square with them taking him to the hospital wing and staying with him there--if, in fact, that was what they _had_ done (and she wasn't at all convinced, yet could not bring herself to ask Madam Pomfrey whether they'd been there, in case they all landed in trouble because of her). 

Lily stood and slid her arms into the sleeves of her dressing gown and wrapped it securely around her. She walked softly to the door of her room in her bare feet, even though the stone floor was chilling her. She crept down the curving stairs to the common room, wondering if she would have the courage to check the boys' dorms again if he wasn't there. But she never found out whether she would be able to bring herself to do this, as Remus was again sitting before the roaring fire, shivering as though he'd been set adrift on an ice floe and the nearest warmth was half a world away, not three feet away. 

He looked up at her with a stricken expression. "_Lily,_" he whispered, giving her a look that made her want to do anything in her power to make him feel better. 

"_Help me._" 

* * * * *

Sirius Black woke with a start. 

Several floors below in Gryffindor Tower, a door had slammed noisily. He pulled himself up in bed and parted his bedcurtains, wondering what was going on. He crept out of bed and toward the door. When he was on the landing, he looked around cautiously, then took a deep breath and did it; he felt the change ripple through his body, felt the horrible pain as his bones wrenched themselves into a different shape, as his very internal organs shifted and metamorphosed into another creature's. 

His paws landed softly on the stone floor. He turned his head to see his tail flicking. He felt quite satisfied inside. He hadn't told the others he was doing this, transforming whenever he felt the urge, for more practice. Yes, it was painful, but it also gave him an incredibly powerful feeling to be able to execute such advanced magic, and something that was so rare, at the age of fifteen. He had been very, very impatient for them to be able to accompany Remus during the full moon. He'd been ready ever since the term had started--well before that, in fact--but James had insisted that they continue to wait for Peter to be ready. 

Sirius loved being in his dog form. He could smell things he couldn't as a human. He could hear incredibly well. He had started to feel like his nose and ears were stuffed up when he was in his human form, the difference was so marked. Being a dog made him feel more _alive_ than he'd ever been in his life. 

Now he started to descend the spiral stairs in his dog form, going toward the source of the noise. It had come from the first-years' dorm, on the second level. The fifth-years were on the sixth level, high above the common room. He paused a flight above the first-year dorm, catching snatches of their conversation, even through the heavy door. 

"_You _do_ know what shagging is, don't you?_" 

What on earth? Why were first years talking about that? he wondered. Then he heard the voices in the common room below, the sound unobscured by doors or walls or constrained by human hearing.... 

"_Remus! That boy heard us!_" 

"_Don't worry, Lily. We have the cloak. It'll be all right...._" 

Sirius padded softly back up the stairs and changed into his human form again before opening the door to his dorm and staggering to his bed. He threw himself back on his pillow. She was with _him._ One of his best friends. He felt like punching something, or some_one._ He felt--incredibly angry with himself. _It's all your fault,_ came the accusing voice in his head. He couldn't bring himself to hate Remus; he didn't blame Remus at all, in fact. _You botched it up and now she hates you._

It had happened after the Quidditch match that fell on the Saturday directly after Lily's birthday. Lily had been mooning over Sirius for years, although she tried to pretend she didn't care. (She did a very poor job of this.) It had been frankly embarrassing during the first three years of school, when he didn't care tuppence for girls. She'd go deep red whenever he was around, and when she'd gone (and sometimes even when she hadn't) the others would nudge him and wink and tease him about his _girlfriend._ It almost made him hate her. After all, she was an insufferable know-it-all. Who wanted someone like that for a girlfriend, and with hair in that dreadful _red?_ Someone who was a skinny stick, and pale to boot (when she wasn't blushing over running into him). 

Once, late in their second year, when some fourth years had teased him in the common room about his _girlfriend_ he'd shouted irritably, "She's not my bleeding girlfriend! I wouldn't be caught dead with her!" Then he saw that she was still in the corner of the room. She'd looked up with a stricken expression on her face, and he felt a stab of guilt. The guilt had deepened when she'd fled the common room, disappearing for hours. _She's not so bad,_ he had thought more charitably when it started to become quite late and she still hadn't returned. _She'll probably look all right when she's older._

James had gone to look for her after she didn't turn up at the evening meal. Sirius was actually starting to feel somewhat anxious. _What if something happens to her because of me?_ he thought. She never let him copy her homework--in spite of her crush, she was very scrupulous about this--but she had helped him with assignments many times. He'd shamelessly taken advantage of the fact that he knew she wouldn't refuse him. He'd used her time and again, he thought, feeling more and more like a complete cad. 

He had sat near the bottom of the spiral stairs to the boys' dorms, waiting, and finally, James had come back with her. He'd walked in with his arm around her tenderly; her face was rather blotchy, as though she'd been crying. Sirius sank back into the shadows in the stairwell so they wouldn't see him. 

"There, there," James had said softly to her. "He's my best friend and even I don't think he's worth this much fuss," he told her, making Sirius frown. _Thanks a lot, mate._

"You don't understand. It was--he said _caught dead._ It just made me think--I'd--I'd just gotten a letter from my dad about my mum. She's--she's in hospital again--the cancer's back--" She buried her face in James' shoulder and he held her and patted her back, his cheek on her hair. Sirius grimaced. _Bloody hell._ He was going around insulting a girl with a dying mother. Why hadn't anyone told him Lily's mother had cancer? _Because no one thought you cared about her, that's why,_ he answered himself. 

Things hadn't improved much in third year, and by then she was sporting orthodontia, on top of everything else. She still blushed around him, still shot him nervous glances when she didn't think he knew. When they were doing assignments together she was better, she was able to focus on the work and be more businesslike. However, she took on the imperious manner of a teacher at these times, which didn't exactly make her more attractive to him. 

Then when she returned from the Christmas holidays during fourth year, it was like she'd undergone a transformation. Suddenly, her hair looked like the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen--maybe she'd found a new shampoo?--her orthodontia was gone. He noticed for the first time how her green eyes sparkled. She had--she had a _figure_ now. A slight one, but she was definitely no stick any more. 

Now Sirius Black had a problem. He'd spent three-and-a-half years stating loudly and uncategorically how he wouldn't have anything to do with Lily Evans. The trouble was--now he'd fallen for her. He'd fallen hard. How was he to undo everything he'd said about her since coming to Hogwarts? He had no idea. 

And to make matters, worse, he could tell that two of his friends had it bad for Lily too. Peter he wasn't worried about, but Remus....And on top of that, it was clear that Severus Snape was not immune to Miss Evans' charms either. In fact, he'd noticed Snape looking at her in second year and thought, Good luck to you if you go there, mate. Now he felt like he would kill Severus Snape if he ever tried to lay a finger on his Lily. _His Lily._ When had she become that? In his mind a transformation had taken place, and he had no idea what to do about it. 

After the Quidditch match that had closely followed her birthday, the Gryffindors were celebrating in the common room; James had clinched the match again, racking up goals to keep them safely ahead so the Slytherin Seeker wouldn't even try to catch the Snitch, which meant their Seeker, feeble though he was, simply had to have a clear field to grab it. As one of the Beaters, Sirius played an important role in this, sending the Bludgers hurtling at the Slytherin Seeker while the Gryffindor Seeker made his way toward the small golden ball. 

During the celebration, Sirius noticed Lily sitting alone; after congratulating James on his win, she'd retreated to a corner to read. Their exams weren't for two months. He shook his head. Someone need to teach this girl how to _live._ He sauntered over to her and sat down next to her. She looked up to see who it was, reddened, said a soft "hello," and buried her nose in the book again. 

"_You know,_" he said in a conspiratorial whisper. "_I hear there's a party we could go to. In the Gryffindor common room. Some sort of victory celebration._" 

She looked up then, grinning at him. He grinned back. Why, he thought, when she smiles...._She's going to break hearts,_ he thought instinctively, not realizing that his might very well be the first. 

She let him coax her away from the corner and got bottles of butterbeer for both of them, drawing her into the crowd of laughing people near the fire, who were rehashing some of James' exploits again. James flashed a smile at the two of them, jolting Sirius. Did he suspect his best friend's change of heart concerning Lily Evans? 

Sirius' presence seemed to convince Lily to stay in the circle of people near the fire for the rest of the party. They sat next to each other on the hearthrug, and at one point--judging the moment very carefully--Sirius slung his arm carelessly over her shoulder. She looked at him suddenly with wide eyes when he did this. He smiled at her warmly and she blushed again, but it wasn't anything like when she'd been younger. He detected that her breathing had changed; he was able to move his hand gently to her neck and feel her quickened pulse. She caught her breath when his fingers brushed her skin. _Hmmm,_ he thought. She's rather _responsive._

Sirius and Lily remained as the other students slowly left, ascending the stairs amid huge yawns. Finally, it was just the two of them. Her skin still looked flushed in the firelight. She wore a simple white blouse and black skirt, her usual clunky black brogans on her feet, and socks pulled up to her knees. He let his eyes go down to her chest very briefly, then back up to her face, his arm still around her. He leaned closer to her and felt her hitch her breath in anticipation. Should he say something? he wondered. What _could_ he say? _After years of saying I wanted nothing to do with you, could you please be my girl?_ Smooth. Very smooth. He looked in her emerald eyes and decided that speaking was out of place just now. 

_Actions, not words,_ he thought. Suddenly, he covered her mouth with his, holding her to him. She pressed her lips against his, mouth closed, meeting his pressure with an equal one. He opened his eyes and found her eyes open too, looking back. He pulled back from her. 

"You're not supposed to _look,_" he told her irritably. This wasn't going as well as he'd hoped. She frowned. 

"_You_ were," she shot back. She was looking somewhat dissatisfied as well. _Did she know nothing?_ he wondered. He wasn't even sure he could remember how many girls he'd kissed. Was he her first? Probably, he answered himself. Who _else_ would have kissed her, after all? 

He took a deep breath and put his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her close to him. "Just relax," he whispered to her as he pressed his lips against hers again. In response, she became tenser than ever, as though she were over-thinking the entire operation. _It's not Arithmancy,_ he thought, irritated. 

Her lips were still shut against his. _She really doesn't know anything,_ he thought, bringing up his hand and pulling her jaw down somewhat impatiently and pushing his tongue against her lips. This finally caused her to open her mouth involuntarily, and he thrust his tongue in at last, holding her head in place. She started struggling against him, and he held her more tightly. She was making a peculiar sound in her throat, and he took this as encouragement, moving one hand down to her chest.... 

Finally, she wrenched her head away from him, her eyes dark with fear. She pulled out her wand from the pocket of her skirt and pointed it at him. Her breathing was labored and she looked angry and disappointed. He was getting more irritated by the moment. 

"Oh, come on, Lily. Put your wand away. It's just _snogging._ It isn't as though you haven't been wanting me to do that for years--" Even as he said it, he realized how dreadful that sounded. He always had been terrible when it came to talking to girls. His most successful come-ons were the silent ones, the meaningful glances across the library, followed by a pretty girl meeting him behind the far bookcases, letting him kiss her without a word.... 

Lily gasped, and he knew she didn't care for how callous he sounded. _He'd botched this up completely,_ he realized. Now he not only had years of rejection to undo, but _this._ Right, he thought. Go with your strength. _Actions, not--_

But as he stepped toward her again, she pointed her wand and a burst of sparks shot out of the end, striking him in the face. He immediately felt his skin _moving_ of its own accord. In a panic, he put his hands up to his face. 

"Ow!" he cried, having poked himself in his left eye, which was near where his mouth should have been, only a little further down and to the right. He moved his hands over his face carefully; his left ear appeared to be where his nose used to reside, and his mouth was sideways on the left side of his forehead, while his other ear was upside down on the right side. His nose now protruded from the left side of his head, and his other eye was on the right where another ear used to be. He moved his head to the left, so he could see with binocular vision again, sort of; the eye on his lower right jaw and the one on the side of his head were a little too far apart for the world to look quite right to him. 

"What have you done to me?" he cried in alarm; it was a very strange sensation for his forehead to be opening and closing when he spoke, and he also wound up wincing from the noise, because of the ear that had been placed so close to his mouth. She fled up the stairs and he sat down in a chair, closing his eyes (looking at anything was getting very disorienting to him) and exhaling noisily. _Had anyone ever botched anything so spectacularly?_ he wondered. 

His features remained rather mixed-up for a week, and he couldn't practice the Animagus Transfiguration during that time. He made a mental note to hex anyone who called him "Picasso" when he was normal again. (Peter was particularly annoying during that week, smirking at him constantly, and Snape was _completely_ insufferable.) No other girl would go near him in the meantime, and he had a most difficult time reading, eating and blowing his nose. Brushing his teeth was no picnic, either. Because she'd been in a panic, she'd actually messed up the spell, so for one of the teachers to reverse it would have been somewhat difficult. Professor McGonagall assured him that his features would migrate back to their proper positions over the space of about a week. 

In the meantime, Sirius never knew where his eyes, nose, mouth and ears would be when he awoke in the morning, and they were usually in different places by the evening meal than they were at breakfast. Although McGonagall had pressed him, he wouldn't reveal who had hexed him. She knew him well by now, and even with his limited vision he thought she wore an expression that said _He probably deserved it._ Secretly, he agreed with her. He didn't speak to Lily during that week, and she did her best to avoid him anyway. Through his oddly-placed eyes he had seen James looking at her with his eyebrows raised (Sirius' eyebrows were drifting around his nose and one of his ears). James might suspect, but he wouldn't tell McGonagall it was Lily, that was fairly certain. Nonetheless, a rumor did start to go around that it _was_ Lily who'd done it, because he'd made a pass at her. He'd put up with a good bit of ribbing even after his face looked normal again. Some rather daring people still insisted on calling him "Picasso," but it was starting to die out. 

Then he had watched her alternately looking at Severus Snape and Remus Lupin all during the autumn term, almost never looking at him any more, and certainly not the way she used to. In the meantime, every time he was with any other girl, he wound up comparing her unfavorably to Lily Evans, and coming away feeling vaguely dissatisfied and aimless. 

Now--now she was with Remus. They're down there, _right now_, he thought, making himself stay in his bed, forbidding himself from going back out into the stairwell and relying on the superior hearing he had as a dog to listen to what they were doing in the common room. _That wouldn't be right,_ he told himself sternly. _You had your chance, and now she's moved on._

He sighed noisily and laid back, staring up at the canopy. This was his comeuppance, obviously. He'd been a dreadful prat to her for years, and now _this._ The feature-rearrangement hex was nothing compared to _this._ And no matter how much he knew he had earned it with his insults and snideness toward her, and the incompetent pass, and no matter how much he knew Remus deserved a little bit of happiness, he couldn't help feeling.... 

_She's going to break hearts._

He thought, _Done._

_Done and done._

* * * * *

Remus Lupin woke with a start. 

He'd been huddled in a corner of the Transfiguration classroom under James' Invisibility Cloak, biding his time and waiting for all of the students to be in their dormitories and for the teachers to retreat to the staff wing before rising and going to the hospital wing for a sleeping draught from Madam Pomfrey. Luckily, James hadn't forgotten this month that he needed the cloak. 

Before he'd started adolescence, the day before the full moon had been accompanied by a carnal craving that had been satisfied by food; his parents had never been able to fill his stomach on those days. When it was close to full was the only time he felt remotely calm, but his stomach emptied so quickly again that he had to eat almost constantly to keep from shaking to pieces. He had decided, based purely on his own experience and not any research he'd done on werewolves in general, that his body was preparing for the baser carnal desire of sinking his teeth into human flesh during the full moon, for that tearing and ravenous urge that soared through him when he was a wolf. However, as he'd become sexually mature, he'd begun to have carnal urges of a different nature during the day before the full moon. These were far worse than the random urges that struck any twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy, and unfortunately, the sort of activity that eased the tension during other times of the month gave him no relief whatsoever when it was the eve of the full moon. The only thing that seemed to help was actual proximity to another person. He needed to smell them, to touch them, to have them touch him and smell him, and then more, more.... 

Or at least, he assumed this was true. In his fifth year of school he had never had the courage to find out whether actually having sex with another person would ease the symptoms he experienced as the full moon approached. Early in second year, when he was shivering uncontrollably in his bed, James had come to him, wondering what was wrong. He'd sat next to Remus on the bed, and Remus' nose had started going into overdrive. Suddenly he felt the incredible need to smell James all over, to touch him, to be touched by him; his proximity was both exciting him incredibly, and at the same time it was a calming influence. Breathing in the other boy's scent made him feel so _right_, like he was close to a solution to his problem. He'd never been this close to someone when he was coping with the eve of the full moon. He hadn't known that this was what could calm him. And yet--he needed more than proximity. He needed--_more._

And that thought terrified him. He was only twelve years old. So was James. They were both boys. James might not like boys, and they were so young, below the age of consent. People would think it was wrong for so many reasons....No one would care that Remus was going mad for lack of human touch, for that closeness which was greatest when two people joined their bodies in mutual delight.... 

So he'd drawn back from James in fear, fear of alienating his friend (_If he knew what was going through my mind!_) and fear of what this meant for him (_Do I like boys? Do I like girls?_). He'd ordered James to go back to his bed, and the other boy, clearly still concerned, complied. 

Once he was lying by himself again, Remus had sniffed the air; the scent of the other three boys was heady and sexual. All four of them were bundles of walking hormones, and with his werewolf sense of smell, Remus was even more aware of this. Sirius had been wanking in the bathroom, he was sure. Nothing unusual there. But the smell that lingered on his friend, which wafted across the room, was starting to make Remus sweat and shiver again, and he burrowed under his blankets, miserable, afraid that any moment he would spring out and rape one of the other boys. _I'm stronger than any of them,_ he thought suddenly. _I could do it, just take one of them...._ And then he thought, _I'm a terrible person. I'm not even a person; I'm a beast, an animal....._

The next morning, James had come to talk to him again, and Sirius and Peter noticed and joined him, all of them on Remus' bed. 

"What's wrong, Remus? I can tell something's wrong; you can't hide it any longer," James had said, pushing his glasses up his nose. 

Remus swallowed, looking round at his friends; they seemed genuinely concerned. His second year had barely begun. He'd been friends with these boys for a year, and they did everything together--almost. (He went to the Shrieking Shack by himself every month.) Finally, he made a decision. He plucked up his courage and blurted it out. 

"I'm a werewolf." 

They stared back and forth at each other, and then Sirius started laughing first, followed by Peter, and then James. 

"All right, then, _don't_ tell us," Sirius said. "_Werewolf._ Is that the best you can do? All right, I'm the bleeding Queen of England," he began in a high voice, "and I want my tea and crumpets _now!_" 

Peter guffawed so hard he had to run to get a handkerchief to blow his nose. James was looking concerned again, though. While Sirius and Peter were carrying on, he quietly said to Remus, "What is it _really_?" 

Remus looked at him sadly. "I _said_. I'm a werewolf. Tonight when the sun sets and the moon rises, I will change into a wolf. Any human who is near me runs the risk of being bitten and turned into a wolf also or just plain being killed." His voice was soft and steady, and Sirius and Peter finally settled down. The three boys were absolutely still, listening to Remus' quiet words. "I am why the Whomping Willow was planted. It conceals a passageway to the Shrieking Shack. When I press a certain knot on the roots of the tree the limbs stop moving and I can go through into the passage. When I transform, if there are no humans to devour, I attack myself. That is what the villagers hear coming from the Shrieking Shack. They hear me. That is why I need to go to Madam Pomfrey each morning after a night with a full moon, so she can repair my wounds. And last night--" he nodded at James "--my body was--was getting ready for the transformation. The night and day before the full moon is--is very difficult--" 

Finally, they had believed him. They didn't disown him as a friend. He almost felt like crying; had anyone _ever_ had such good friends? he wondered. 

But that didn't solve his monthly problem. Each month that followed, he spent the day before the full moon in agony, around boys whose hormones were jumping about constantly, and around girls who were in complete denial about their sexuality, even as he could smell which ones were menstruating, which were ovulating. They all smelled like _sex_ to Remus Lupin, and they all drove him mad, boy and girl alike. He began to haunt the hospital wing on the eve of the full moon, asking the matron for sleeping draughts (James' idea), but soon she grew tired of him and wouldn't let him have a potion if it was too early in the evening. 

"Go back to bed," she'd say tiredly. "It's only eight o'clock. You haven't even _tried_ to get to sleep on your own. You don't want to become dependent on a potion to fall asleep every night." 

Although the staff knew he was a werewolf, and even that that was why the Shrieking Shack had been built and the Whomping Willow planted, no one--including his friends-- really knew about what he went through _before_ the full moon. He was ashamed; he couldn't go to Professor Dumbledore and explain, "I'm sorry sir, everything you've done for me isn't quite enough. I need complete carte blanche to shag anyone I want on the night before the full moon, or I'll go mad." 

He couldn't admit to the headmaster or matron what was bothering him. And he shuddered to think of the jokes Sirius would make if he knew. It was just too embarrassing. So he shouldered on, finally falling back on sneaking down to sleep in the common room when he couldn't bear the scents of his friends any longer, or when he hadn't been able to talk Madam Pomfrey into giving him a potion which would guarantee him instant sleep. He had gone as far as asking James whether he could borrow the Invisibility Cloak on the night before the full moon so he could go to the hospital wing for the potion late at night without being seen. When she was tired, Madam Pomfrey was more pliable and often let him sleep in the infirmary after taking the potion, instead of taking it back up to his dorm in a vial. She slept nearby, but in a different room; and she didn't bother him, at any rate, being too old to give off any sort of sexual scent. She hadn't been a sexual being for decades, and he was grateful for this. Yearning after the matron was one more headache he didn't need. 

But this night....After the corridors had all gone quiet and he'd awoken in his uncomfortable position on the floor of the Transfiguration classroom, he'd put on the Invisibility Cloak and made his way to the hospital wing. He didn't want to be discovered by Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris. He took off the cloak and stuffed it in his dressing gown pocket before entering the infirmary. 

Then, while he was waiting for the matron to get the potion, _he_ had shown up, with that git, Karkaroff. Remus watched Severus Snape enter the room, his eyes narrowed into slits. _He likes Lily_, he knew. It was painfully obvious. Every time they were in Potions together, the way he looked at her when she didn't know he was looking made it very, very clear how he felt. And yet--he had far more right to like Lily than he, Remus, did. He was a werewolf. He could never really be with anyone. He had watched his friends pair off with girls and thought _I can't do that._ He didn't dare. James had Bonnie, and Sirius had--whichever girl it was this week. Peter didn't have anyone, but that was hardly surprising. Remus thought he might have a little thing for Lily, too. 

Remus couldn't help but hate Severus Snape. Snape who was so tall. Snape who played Keeper on the Slytherin Quidditch team (although he could almost never prevent James from scoring; James was a _brilliant_ Chaser). Snape who made Lily smile and sometimes blush in Potions class, who made her get that _wondering_ look on her face. It was stupid; he shouldn't feel jealous that Snape might actually have a chance with her. He had no business being with _any_ girl, let alone Lily Evans. But still-- 

The scent of the other boy wafted across the room to him. _I do not want to want that git,_ he thought irritably. Remus squeezed his eyes shut, feeling beads of sweat on his brow. He shivered feverishly. Then he opened his eyes again, watching the other boy. Snape hugged the wall nervously, making his way to Madam Pomfrey's office. Karkaroff moved toward the door again. "I'm going now. Don't forget--" he added; "you owe me." _What does that mean?_ Remus wondered. He sat up, swallowing. Snape scowled at him. 

After Karkaroff left, Snape rapped on Madam Pomfrey's office door; Remus could see Snape watching him out of the corner of his eye. She opened the door quickly; Remus knew she was in the middle of preparing his sleeping draught. 

"Snape! What are--" She stopped when she saw his face, then helped him to a bed. With his very sensitive ears, Remus heard her whisper to Snape, "I'll get the potion. Professor Sprout just brought me a fresh batch of spleenwort. I've been brewing potions all day." 

Snape grabbed her hand. "What's _he_ here for?" he asked quietly. Remus sensitive ears heard this too. 

She looked irritated. "Always coming down here for sleeping draughts. And he'll probably ask to sleep here again, instead of in his own dormitory. But don't worry--I'll take care of you first." She looked disapprovingly at Remus again before leaving to get Snape's potion. 

Remus sat up straighter, finding it very difficult to not stare at Severus Snape. His beard defined his jaw and high cheekbones very nicely...._Aargh,_ he thought. _Stop that. I do not want to have these kinds of thoughts about Snape._

But his mind ran away with him anyway. The two of them, in the infirmary, alone...._No._ He shook his head to clear it. _'Not a good idea' would be the understatement of the century...._

"Are you staying?" Remus asked him abruptly, his voice throaty. 

"What?" Snape sounded startled. 

"I said, are you staying?" 

Snape frowned. "What's it to you?" 

Remus couldn't help it; he started breathing more rapidly. "If I thought I wouldn't be alone, I wouldn't have bothered to come all the way down here...." Then he wished he hadn't said this; it must sound very strange. 

"Oh, you've got to have the infirmary all to yourself now, have you?" Snape shot at him. "Sorry, but some of us have _legitimate_ medical concerns." Then he looked like he was worried he'd said too much. _What was wrong with him?_ Remus wondered. "_Sleeping draught._ Why don't you sod off and leave poor Madam Pomfrey alone? And me as well?" 

"I--I had expected to be alone, is all." Remus slid off his bed and put his shoes back on, pulling his dressing gown on over his pajamas. He ran to the door. "Tell Madam Pomfrey--tell her I'm feeling much better--" Snape looked unconvinced about this, but he smirked, "Afraid to be alone with me?" 

Remus stopped; the other boy's scent was very strong. He looked at him, at the bit of pale skin revealed by the V of his dressing gown, at his large hands. Snape looked unnerved by his scrutiny. 

"Yes," he admitted softly. "I am definitely afraid to be alone with you." 

Snape settled back against his pillows, his mouth twisting again. "Huh! Gryffindor bravery my arse." 

Remus was at his side in two steps, grabbing a fistful of Snape's dressing gown with each hand, pulling him up, breathing him in hungrily. Their faces were very close. 

"It's not what _you'd_ do to _me_ that I fear," he said quietly. He flung him back on the bed and walked unsteadily to the door, slamming it behind him. 

He had decided he couldn't risk staying. He felt so on edge. Ever since he'd given in to his desires and starting kissing Lily during the previous month, he'd been dreading this night. That had been so amazing; inhaling her, hearing her sighs and feeling her fingers fluttering over him....until James had come in and brought him to his senses. Which he was glad of. And yet not.... 

In the corridor, he tried to get his breath. _Damn!_ He would have to go back up to the common room. There wasn't anywhere else to go, unless he wanted to risk leaving the castle and going through the passage to the Shrieking Shack. The winter wind beat against the windows in the corridor and a cold breeze swirled around his ankles; the castle was draughty, but it was at least shelter, and there was _some_ warmth. The Shrieking Shack had none. And if he went to sleep all night on the floor of a classroom, covered in the Invisibility Cloak, he would probably be found by Filch and Norris; he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't snore, or throw the cloak off in his sleep. 

He gave the password and entered Gryffindor Tower, taking off the cloak and bundling it into the pocket of his dressing gown again. He sat before the fire, remembering Snape's scent, and beginning to shake again. _Damn Snape_! He was so close to getting the sleeping draught from Pomfrey....But he didn't know how long she would take getting Snape's potion, how long after that she would have his sleeping draught ready, and how long both boys would be there, alone in the infirmary, waiting for their potions to take effect. _What was wrong with Snape, anyway?_ he wondered. But he didn't have long to ponder this. 

As he sat before the fire, shaking, his nose started quivering again. _No, no, no_, he thought. _Go away. I can't bear it. I can't fight it...._ He heard her soft footsteps come closer and closer as she descended the stairs. 

Finally, she had reached the common room. She walked toward him slowly, then stopped. He couldn't help staring at her; she was so beautiful, so compassionate. He knew he'd already hurt her a great deal, yet, miraculously, she didn't hate him for it. She was here looking for him in spite of that. He had wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms the morning after they'd first kissed, to tell her how much he loved her and to kiss her again. But he dared not do this. He was a monster. He dared not ever love anyone, nor ask them to love him. 

And yet, even as he thought this, he moved his eyes over her hungrily, aching for her, and not just because he was a werewolf. His resolved crumbled utterly as he whispered, "_Lily. Help me._" 

* * * * *

Bill Weasley woke with a start. 

The door to the first-years' dorm slammed noisily and Peregrin Booth came hurtling back into the room, leapt onto his bed and dove under the covers. The other boys woke also, and immediately started telling off Booth for being so noisy upon returning from the lavatory in the middle of the night. 

"I don't care _how_ cold the floor is," Alex Wood said to him angrily, after Orville Simpson had told Booth to do something to himself which was probably physically impossible. Sleep was still making Alex's voice a little thick. "Put on a pair of bleeding slippers or boots or _something_. Don't just--" 

"_That's not why I was running!_" Booth said breathlessly. He sat up, leaning forward, clearly hoping he'd goad the other boys into asking what was really making him run. His fair blond hair shivered in a pudding-bowl shape around his head. 

Rembert Leonard, his fox-like face poking between his bedcurtains, took the bait. "All right--why were you running?" Leonard was Booth's best friend, and was bound to ask. The blond boy called him Bert and in turn his friend called him Perry. Bill and Alex and Orville Simpson, who tended to stick together, called them Booth and Leonard. The two groups of boys rarely interacted when it wasn't absolutely necessary. It was merely incidental that they all had to live together. 

"There's--there's something in the common room! I heard noises when I came out of the loo, so I went downstairs to find out what it was. I looked around the whole room--couldn't see a thing--but there were still these _noises_....I think there's something _evil_ down there." 

Orville rolled his eyes and smacked his forehead. "_Honestly._ You _are_ aware that ghosts live here? In the castle? _There's something evil down there_...." he said in a squeaky voice intended to mock Booth, whose voice hadn't yet deepened--and in spite of the fact that his own voice still cracked and wavered between alto and tenor on a regular basis. He shook his head in disgust. Orville Simpson was a half-blood and had grown up in the magical world, like Bill and Alex, who were both pure-bloods. Booth and Leonard were both Muggle-borns and still shocked by many things they encountered in the magical world--of which they'd each had only four months' experience. 

Booth smirked at Orville. "Very funny, _Simpson._" His voice went squeaky when he said the name, mocking Orville right back. "I know what ghosts sound like and what they do. _This was no ghost._ There were voices. Two voices. Sort of grunting and groaning. Sometimes sighing. I even heard a laugh." 

Bill looked at Alex and saw the knowing expression on his face. Bill hoped no one could see him blushing in the semi-darkness--he could _feel_ it, though. From what Booth had said, he could guess what was going on in the common room, and he could tell Alex had drawn the same conclusion. Bill braced himself-- 

"Let's go!" 

"Wood!" Booth yelled as Alex bolted across the room to the door. "Where are you going?" 

Alex turned around at the door with an evil grin on his face. His dark hair was standing on end, like a gang of exclamation points. "I'm going to find out who's shagging in the common room, that's where I'm going." 

"Who's sha--_what?_" 

Alex rolled his eyes, and now Orville joined him by the door, also rolling his eyes. Since the term had started in September, Bill had been a little disconcerted by Orville's aping many things Alex did, but now he was used to it--although he stubbornly refused to do the same. "That's what you were hearing, you stupid git. The sounds of _shagging._ You _do_ know what shagging is, don't you?" 

Booth was shuffling his feet, embarrassed. "I know about babies and all that. I'm not a three-year-old." 

Alex snorted. "Fooled me. And just about everyone else, too." 

Booth bristled now, and his best friend came to stand by his side in solidarity. Alex ignored them. "Who wants to come?" he said to Orville and Bill, a wicked smile on his face. "Get it? I said who wants to--" 

"_We get it!_" Bill hissed, trying to shut him up. "All right, let's go--" 

Against his better judgment, he followed Alex down the spiral stairs to the common room. Orville was practically stepping on his heels. He turned his head briefly and saw that Booth and Leonard were bringing up the rear. He experienced a pang for a moment--who would want five eleven-year-old boys walking in on them at such a crucial time? (If there really was shagging going on.) And yet his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he couldn't resist trying to find out what was going on.... 

Alex had reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped; Bill plowed into him, having expected him to keep moving. Alex looked around the common room with his eyes narrowed. Bill looked too; not a soul was in sight. There was no sound, either; certainly not the sounds Booth had described. 

"See?" he said now. "I told you I hadn't been able to see anyone. It's not humans; it's got to be something else...." 

Bill shrugged. "Maybe whoever it was went back upstairs." 

"The boy would have had to go past our dorm. I'm sure no one did. And only the seventh years are lower down than us," Orville reminded them all. The seventh years were on the first floor up from the common room and the first years were on the second floor; they would remain in this dorm for the next seven years, only the sign on the door changing as they grew older. 

"_Could_ have been seventh years. Most likely, really," Bill responded softly, looking around the room again. 

"Nah," Leonard responded. "Their door has this dreadfully loud squeaky hinge. Needs oiling. If someone had gone into their dorm, we'd have heard it. I can tell every time one of them gets up to use the loo in the night. It's like an angry screech owl." Bill remembered that this was true; the noise echoed all up and down the stone stairwell whenever the seventh-year door was opened. The seventh years didn't care, evidently. 

The five of them stood near the foot of the stairs, looking around the room nervously. Was some evil being going to suddenly swoop at them out of nowhere? Was a ghost playing games with them? 

"They could have just left Gryffindor Tower," Alex suggested in a whisper. Whispering seemed necessary for some reason. The other boys nodded. 

"That's easy enough to find out," Booth said sensibly. "Just ask the Fat Lady." 

They all hesitated; it meant going out into the corridor. Being out of their house after hours. They'd had it drummed into them for almost four months that that was a serious punishable offense. Bill looked at his dormmates; Orville still had the look of sleep in his eyes, and his matted hair made it seem that a sandy-colored animal had decided to sleep on his head. Alex made no move toward the portrait hole; he bit his lip nervously, his dark eyes very large in his pale face. Booth and Leonard actually seemed to be trembling. 

Bill felt a curious sick feeling in the vicinity of his stomach, and swallowed; it wasn't fear so much as self-loathing. _I should do it,_ he thought, still not moving. 

They all looked back and forth at each other and waited. 

Finally, Bill couldn't take it any longer; he hated the way he was feeling and had to do something about it. _It'll just be for a minute._ "I'll do it," he said disgustedly, crossing the room before he could change his mind, opening the portrait hole and stepping into the corridor. He shivered as a draught swirled round his ankles and up his pajama legs; the portrait hole still open, he looked up at the Fat Lady uncertainly. 

"Er, excuse me, ma'am," he began awkwardly, never having addressed the Fat Lady except to give her the password to Gryffindor Tower. "Can you tell me whether anyone has come out of Gryffindor Tower recently?" 

She looked down at him kindly. "Only you, lad. And it's rather late for that. You had better run along to bed." 

"In a minute," he said, feeling more comfortable now. "You're quite sure? What about--" he lowered his voice in case the others were listening from inside the common room. "--ghosts?" he said even more quietly, feeling just a bit foolish. 

"Well, now, that's a possibility for going _in_--" she began. 

"What do you mean?" he said in a normal tone of voice, forgetting to whisper. 

"I mean that a little while ago, a disembodied voice gave me the password and asked to enter, and so I opened. I saw no one pass me, however, so I do not know who it may have been. He did have the password, though." 

"_He_?" Bill noticed that she'd assigned a gender to the unseen intruder. "A man?" 

"A man's voice, yes. Not like yours. I _do_ like the sound of a good boy soprano. Do you sing?" she added hopefully. 

"Er, no," he told her, turning pink. "At least, you wouldn't want to hear it. Anyway, this person had the password, then you opened the entrance, and that's the last time anyone came or went until I came out here?" 

"That's right, dear. Of course, if it was a ghost, it was a ghost who had forgotten he could pass through walls. That would be a very odd sort of ghost." 

He stood deep in thought for a half minute, still holding onto the portrait frame, so he could easily reenter the common room. There was a thought starting to form in his mind, but in his sleepy state it felt like it would get away if he tried to pounce on it too quickly, before it was fully formed.... 

"Well," he told the Fat Lady slowly. "Thanks for your help--" 

"_Aha!_" cried a familiar, gravelly voice with a flourish of triumph. Bill whirled, letting go of the portrait, which swung closed, leaving him stranded in the corridor. A grey cat, walking languidly, came round the corner, followed by Argus Filch, who carried a parchment and quill in one hand and a lantern in the other, despite the flaring torches on the corridor walls. Bill felt his heart leap into his throat. 

"Aha!" the caretaker repeated with relish, coming closer to Bill and holding the lantern in his face, as though he would otherwise be unable to see the boy with the bright red hair. "Out of your house after hours! Where've you been, then, eh? An ickle firstie, if I'm not mistaken, flaunting the rules! What will you be doing by the time you're a seventh year? That's what _I'd_ like to know. You delinquents all start as you mean to go on, I've seen it before...." 

"But--but--I just now came out here," Bill piped, irked that his voice sounded even higher than usual. He couldn't help it--the pitch went up when he was nervous. "We--we thought there was an intruder in Gryffindor Tower. I was asking the Fat Lady whether she'd opened the portrait to let someone leave--I had to step out here to talk to her..." 

"A likely story," he sneered, his grimy features twisting into a mask of distinct contempt. "If that was true you should have had a prefect come out and check. That's what they're _for_. A first year isn't supposed to take these things on himself." He pulled out his quill and spread the parchment on the stone wall next to the Fat Lady's portrait. 

"Name?" he prompted. 

"Bill Weasley," he mumbled. Filch's quill scribbled across the parchment. After he'd taken the name down, he continued to write with the quill for an alarmingly long period of time. Then he grunted with satisfaction and rolled up the parchment, slipping the quill inside. 

"Second one out of bed tonight!" he said, with what probably passed for happiness (for him), rocking back and forth on his old boots, his eyes glittering. "Stupid Slytherin prefect, claiming he was taking a student to the hospital wing...." 

"Maybe he was!" Bill responded hotly, keenly feeling the injustice of this, forgetting that it might not be wise to yell at someone who was in the middle of giving him a detention. "Did you go to the hospital wing to check? He might have been telling the truth. And if you're giving detentions to prefects who say they're on official business, how would it have helped for me to get a prefect to come out and talk to the Fat Lady? You'd have just given _him_ a detention instead of me!" 

Filch looked at him, complete and utter loathing on his lined old face. A vein was throbbing in his cheek. A _first year_ was daring to speak to _him_ like this. "You," he hissed between his teeth, "will have _detention_ tomorrow evening at eight o'clock. You will be--" 

"I can't," Bill said automatically, frowning. Filch's eyes bugged out at him; now his left eyelid was twitching, in addition to the dancing vein. 

"_What did you say to me?_" he breathed in disbelief, glaring at him malevolently, as though Bill had sprouted another head. 

Bill quaked under his gaze. "I--I won't be here. The Christmas holiday. I'm getting the Hogwarts Express home tomorrow." 

Filch had clearly forgotten about the holiday. Bill watched him, wondering if he was going to have a complete melt-down. _He's barking,_ Bill thought, watching the shifting expressions flow over the man's face, as though one ghost after another were attempting to take possession of the man's body and then thinking better of it. 

Finally, he bent over Bill and said between his clenched yellow teeth, "Then you'll do detention your first night back, when the new term starts." His breath was sour in Bill's face, a blast of putrid decay, and he fought not to wince; he didn't think it wise to show too extreme a reaction to this. 

"Yes, sir," he choked out, trying not to breath through his nose, wishing he had a head cold so he wouldn't be able to smell. 

"Now get in your house!" he barked at Bill, who quickly gave the Fat Lady the password and ran through the portrait hole, his heart going a mile a minute. When he was in the common room again, he stood still, catching his breath. There was no one to be seen. The other first-year boys had apparently fled up the stairs to their dorm again. They had probably heard Filch's voice. 

With another look around the quiet common room, Bill decided Booth was also mad and had been letting his imagination run away with him. 

_Except_-- 

The Fat Lady _had_ said that someone she couldn't see had given the password to enter Gryffindor Tower. He walked slowly up the spiral stairs to the first-year dorm, thinking about this. When he reached his room again, he walked calmly to his bed and climbed in, but he didn't lie down; he sat up, staring at the window, full of bright moonlight. 

Finally, he whispered, "Alex?" Silence. "Alex?" he said again, more loudly. 

"What?" came the sleepy reply. "That you, Bill? You all right?" 

_Yeah, like you really cared_, Bill thought. _Probably ran up the stairs like a dragon was after you. You'd have wet your pants if it had been you out in the corridor with Filch._ He felt irritated. 

"I got a detention," he said casually, as though this happened every night and was of extreme unimportance. "Listen. I thought of something." 

There was a bit of a delay before his friend groaned, "What?" 

"The Fat Lady said someone she couldn't see gave her the password and came in. But no one went out." 

Alex scrambled to sit up, clearly more awake now. Bill saw that Orville was sitting up now, too. The other two boys had evidently fallen asleep again. 

"What do you reckon that means?" Orville asked. 

"_I_ know what that means," Alex whispered, his voice full of certainty. "It means someone in an _Invisibility Cloak_." 

"An Invisibility Cloak?" Orville breathed in disbelief. "What Hogwarts student would have an _Invisibility Cloak_? Why not just walk around wearing something made of a thousand Galleons sewn together?" 

The three boys were quiet. Then, from the far bed, came a small, high voice. 

"I heard that one of the prefects has an Invisibility Cloak," Peregrin Booth said, his voice seeming very loud in the quiet room. 

Bill and Orville and Alex looked round at each other, their jaws dropping open. _A prefect!_ How shocking! 

"Well, that narrows it down to six people, now doesn't it?" Alex said, sounding predatory, like a hunter closing in on his quarry. 

"Three," Booth said. "I heard it was a boy." 

"Three people," Alex mused, as though he'd just thought of this himself and Booth hadn't said anything. 

"So," Orville said now, "there's the seventh year prefect, What's-His-Name--" 

"Stephen Pearce," Bill said automatically. 

"No girlfriend," Alex said authoritatively. "And he's huge. Impossible for him to walk about quietly under an Invisibility Cloak. Plus, he's Muggle-born. He probably doesn't even know they exist, let alone how to get one." 

"How _do_ you get one?" Rembert Leonard asked quietly, also sitting up in his bed now, unable to resist joining in. 

"_I_ know they exist, and _I'm_ Muggle-born," Booth said, bristling. 

"Yeah, yeah, you've got a phonographic memory, I know--" 

"That's _photographic_ memory," the blond boy informed him with an exasperated sigh; Bill knew he was as frustrated with their isolation from the Muggle world as the other boys were with his and Leonard's ignorance of the wizarding world. 

They were all quiet for a minute, thinking. 

"I heard," Leonard said quietly, "that the fifth year prefect had one." 

"Had what?" Alex said, as though he'd started to fall asleep again. 

"An Invisibility Cloak." 

"_Potter?_" Orville said in awe. "You reckon that was _Potter_ down in the common room? Who with?" 

"Dunno. They must have been together under the Invisibility Cloak, and that's why Perry didn't see anyone when he went down. They could have been there still when we all went, but staying very still and quiet." 

"The Fat Lady said someone entered she couldn't see," Bill said softly, in a daze. "Potter's girlfriend is in Hufflepuff. He could have given her the cloak to be able to get here without being seen. The way Filch was prowling around, the only way you'd want to be out is with one of those cloaks. He said he gave detention to a prefect who claimed to be taking a student to the hospital wing." 

The other boys shook their heads over Filch. Suddenly a yawning epidemic overtook them, beginning with Booth and finally reaching Bill, who sank back onto his pillow, thinking. _So. James Potter was down in the common room with Bonnie Manetti._ Where were they now? he wondered. He thought of Bonnie and her large dark eyes, her dazzling smile and the dimples in her cheeks. _Potter was one lucky bastard,_ he thought. Then he felt awful when he remembered that Potter had become an orphan on the first day of the term. _Poor Potter,_ he thought instead. _But at least he has Bonnie. That's something._ Although at this point in his life he knew that if he had to choose between his parents and a girlfriend, he'd take his parents. His family was everything to him. 

The dorm was quiet again, and soon Bill heard Booth and Leonard snoring softly. He stared at the ceiling and started to drift off to sleep, when suddenly, Alex's voice came at him out of the darkness again. 

"Bill?" 

"Yeah?" 

"D'you--d'you like any of our girls?" 

"_Our?_" 

"In Gryffindor." 

"Oh." He thought now of Lily Evans, but didn't say anything about this. "Do you?" he asked instead. 

"Well," Alex hesitated. "Mary Ann is nice." Mary Ann Boxwood was one of the three girls in their year. 

"I guess." Then Bill thought of Potions class, with the Slytherins. He thought specifically of Roxanne Maine-Thorpe.... 

"But girls are a ruddy pain in the arse," Alex said now, his voice hard. "More trouble than they're worth." He sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than Bill. 

"Right," Bill said, more to be agreeable and to bring the conversation to a close than because he believed this. 

"Right," Alex repeated into the darkness. 

But somehow, as he let his eyes close and drifted back into sleep, Bill had a feeling that James Potter was the last person in the world who would agree with that statement. 

* * * * *

_Wednesday, 31 December, 1975_

As the sky lightened in the east, pale pink fingers of light began to make their way across the flat, overcast sky that sat on the South Wales coast like a leaden weight. No sun could actually be seen; instead, the light seemed to emanate from the sky in general, no one area seeming brighter than any other. Gulls cried out overhead, occasionally settling on frost-touched rocks or on the rail that defined the edges of the Penarth Promenade. 

James Potter watched the waves slap the shingle mercilessly, white froth edging the wet weapons until they revealed themselves to be nothing more than insubstantial water, slinking back into the sea half-apologetically. He looked down at the simple black basaltware urn in his hand. The other one was back in his trunk at Ascog castle. He'd been waiting for almost four months to scatter his parents' ashes, and now he hesitated, as though this meant severing the last ties he had to them forever. _They're gone,_ he told himself sternly. _And this is what they wanted._ He tried not to think of the funeral again, in case a memory of the dream crept into his head instead. He hadn't told anyone about the dream. Not Bonnie, not his mates, not Lily. They'd think he was mad. 

James looked at Bonnie, standing beside him. Her face was sympathetic, even as she clutched her cloak around her; the wind off the sea was sharp, like receiving a slap in the face over and over. Sirius stood on his other side, then Lily, Peter, and Remus. They'd all come with him, his girlfriend and his best friends, just as they would stand beside him when he did the same thing at Hogwarts. The cold air was making his eyes sting and his nose itched; he reasoned that it _must_ be the weather, because he'd cried so many tears for his parents already. Enough was enough. He had to be strong, to go on and be a man they would be proud of. He lifted his chin and sniffed the sea air; he watched Bonnie's hair blow into her face and knew that the wind had changed; it was behind them. It was safe now. 

He said a silent farewell to his mum and dad as he opened the urn and watched the ashes blow over the sand and into the water. He watched a particularly loud gull swerve upward on the wind, as though it knew what the wind was blowing to the sea. James tipped his head back, watching as the bird flew directly over him, inland, as if telling him that his past was in the sea now, follow the gull inland to the future, _his_ future.... 

Lily's eyes stung and she wiped them hastily with the back of her hands. She reached instinctively for the person standing nearest her, who turned out to be Sirius. He closed his arms around her sympathetically and smiled down at her. She looked up then, startled, and backed away from him hastily. His face clouded when she did this. She turned then to the boy on her other side, and Peter held his friend as she sobbed quietly for their friend's parents, now at one with the sea. 

Sirius turned away from them; she was still angry with him, or scared of him, at least. Still didn't trust him. He sighed and leaned his hands on the rough wooden rail. He played the events of the previous April over in his head yet again, wishing he could take back everything he'd said and done (and not just because of how difficult it was to function for the following week). He never seemed to _think_ before he acted. He always went purely with his gut instinct, and he'd regretted that many times, yet still-- 

Sirius Black looked at the ecstasy on Peter Pettigrew's face. Hmph. Peter didn't stand a chance with her--that much he knew. Perhaps that was why she turned to him now. He was as safe as you could get, was Peter. Talk about non-threatening. He cursed himself again. Damn! _If only...._

He looked at her now, straightening up after having cried on Peter, and then looking at Remus with such longing it took his breath away. Then he saw that Remus returned this. _He loves her too,_ he realized, surprised that this was the word he thought of. _Love._ And yet--why didn't the two of them cling together? Why was there this distance between them? He remembered hearing their voices wafting up from the common room on the night before they'd gotten the Hogwarts Express home for the holidays. Had he completely misunderstood what was going on down there? Were they together or weren't they? 

He turned back to James, who was watching the sea again. Sirius' sister Ursula was waiting for them at the end of the promenade, ready to walk them all to an unobtrusive spot where they could use the Portkey back to Ascog Castle. His parents had spent the previous four months building another floor of the castle, so that Sirius' previous room was now the guest room and he and James had bedrooms on the top floor. His mother had said she was going to get his father to build a roof garden. James had said he liked his new room when he'd seen it, but he looked around rather listlessly at everything these days. He'd merely drifted through the previous term, never really seeming fully present, always--Sirius assumed--thinking of his parents. 

Sirius was only fifteen and he could be tactless and thoughtless, but he cared fiercely about his friends--including Lily--and would do anything in his power to protect them. He hoped Lily and Remus could work things out. _If I can't have her, it should be him,_ he thought. Remus deserved a little happiness. It had been amazing, when they'd accompanied Remus during the full moon the previous week, feeling his power beside him as they prowled around the shores of Loch Ascog, and he padded in his dog form beside the wolf, his friend. Because of Remus, he had learned a maddeningly difficult bit of Transfiguration that he could utilize the rest of his life. He didn't begrudge Remus being with Lily; he only hoped he realized how lucky he was, and didn't botch things up. _Like I did,_ he thought. 

As the sun continued to rise, James turned from the sea and held his hands out to his friends. "Thanks, everyone," he said to them quietly. They nodded and smiled at him through their tears. Then, Sirius put his arm around James' shoulder and James put his around Bonnie's. Lily also put her arm around Bonnie's shoulder, and Peter took Lily's hand while Remus slung his arm across Peter's small, thin shoulders. Linked thusly, the six friends walked down the promenade into the rising sun, girding themselves to face the uncertainties of the New Year.

* * * * * 

Thanks to Andrew for being my emergency beta reader for this chapter, and thanks to everyone who commented on Chapter One! 

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	3. Premeditation

**Title:** The Lost Generation (1975-1982) (03/20)  
**Author name:** Barb  
**Author email:** blpurdom@yahoo.com  
**Category:** Mystery  
**Sub Category:** Romance  
**Keywords:** MWPP Lily Snape Bill Weasley  
**Rating:** R  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA, Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent, Harry Potter and the Time of Good Intentions  
**Summary:** Bill Weasley begins his education at Hogwarts in 1975, in the middle of Voldemort's reign of terror. He never suspects that the Gryffindor prefects he looks up to, Lily Evans and James Potter, will eventually have a son who saves the wizarding world, nor that the Weasley family will eventually play an important role in the Dark Lord's fall. All he knows is that in a very scary wizarding world, Hogwarts is a safe haven where he has always longed to be--until, that is, there are whispers of vampires and werewolves, of Death Eaters and traitors, and a Seeress pronounces a Prophecy which will shake the wizarding world to its very foundations....  
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.   
**Author notes:** _The Lost Generation_ is the prequel to the _Psychic Serpent Trilogy_, which begins with _Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent_. There are events and characters mentioned which appear in other books in the trilogy (such as two Weasley sisters who were born between Charlie and Percy). While it is not absolutely necessary to read the trilogy first (the third book is in progress) it may be helpful in some respects. A FAQ file concerning the entire story arc is also available on the Psychic_Serpent Yahoo Group website (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Psychic_Serpent .) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**The Lost Generation**

(1975-1982)

Chapter Three

** Premeditation**

  
  
  


_Tuesday, 21 January, 1976_

Lily eyed Remus, sitting on the other side of the Transfiguration classroom. He was sitting with James, Sirius and Peter around him as though he was using them as human shields. He'd been avoiding her since they'd all returned from the Christmas break, even though they'd almost-- 

"Miss Evans!" Professor McGonagall said sternly. Lily looked up in alarm, then down at the table where she was sitting; she had failed to notice that her quill had trailed off the edge of her parchment and was doodling hearts on the old, scratched wood writing surface. It did not look remotely like the O.W.L. information Professor McGonagall had been writing on the chalkboard. Reddening, Lily pulled out her wand and cleaned the desk quickly, trying not to catch Cecilia's eye; Cecilia was still under the impression that Lily was crushing on Sirius Black, in spite of the rather severe hexes she had put on him after his incompetent pass the previous April. She hadn't said anything to Cecilia about Remus. 

The Thompson twins turned in unison and gave Lily a disdainful look; they always had perfectly neat notes in a cramped, small hand that was as identical as the two of them. Lily fought the urge to stick her tongue out at the backs of their heads when they turned forward again. She still did that at home sometimes, when Petunia wasn't looking, but there were more people to see her here, and she was a prefect. That, of course, was yet another reason why Moira and Myra Thompson did not care for her. She also had the distinct impression that Cecilia resented her for being the girl in their year named prefect. She sighed for a moment, stealing a look at the boys. 

None of James' friends seemed to resent _him_ being a prefect. The four of them were practically joined at the hip. Not for the last time, she wondered what they'd gotten up to those three nights running when she'd been checking their dorm, so she could talk to Remus. 

_Remus...._

She remembered being in the common room with him just before the holiday, under the Invisibility Cloak. Sometimes she thought she might have imagined it; that she might have imagined his hands against her skin, his mouth on hers, the low growl in his throat that had sent a thrill through her, the knowledge that she was driving him mad. He was driving her mad too, in a way she never suspect she _could_ be driven mad before the previous November. Suddenly, under the cloak on the hearthrug in the middle of the night, she felt as though she were consumed by him, as though she couldn't touch enough of his skin, as she opened his pajama shirt and moved her lips down to his chest.... 

And then that first year boy had blundered down into the common room and gone running back upstairs in fright. It had brought them to their senses; they had awkwardly dressed themselves again and walked carefully, both of them under the cloak, to the curving stairs leading to the girls' dorms, going half-way up the first flight very carefully, then sitting down on the steps next to each other, huddled together, listening for--something. 

She had watched Remus in the strange light filtering through the cloak from the torches on the curving walls. He seemed to be listening, his eyes narrowed, but Lily couldn't hear a thing. He was frowning, looking upset. Sweat had broken out on his brow again and she longed to tenderly wipe it with her hand, kiss away his cares....She didn't hear anything until the boys arrived in the common room. Then she heard them discussing whether to ask the Fat Lady about people leaving Gryffindor Tower. Lily had grasped Remus' wrist very hard; if the guardian of the threshold of their house confirmed that no one had left, would the boys be brave enough (or foolhardy enough) to try the girls' dorms? 

Lily sat very still, waiting, wondering. When she looked at Remus she saw an expression in his eyes that made her catch her breath. It seemed her heart had stopped; the love she saw there was frightening, awe-inspiring. To be loved so fiercely--for the best word she could think of for his overall expression was 'fierce'--was unsettling, and not a little scary. She still wasn't completely certain where she stood on the matter, whether she wanted to be with Remus or Severus, but as he started kissing her neck again she felt that there was quite a lot to recommend Remus.... 

She gasped, holding him to her, as his mouth sent shivers running up her spine. His hands had slipped under her nightdress and were moving up her legs, raising goose-pimples as they progressed higher and higher. Suddenly she had a thought--a sobering, bracing thought. _I could have a baby._ She looked at Remus, wide-eyed. Then she leaned forward and whispered this concern in his ear. He drew back and looked at her with a very alarmed expression. 

"You haven't taken the potion then?" 

"Potion?" 

He drew back a little more, which was all he could do, as they were both under the cloak still. 

"Go--go see Madam Pomfrey. Tell her what you want. She doesn't ask stupid questions, don't worry. Sirius told me." 

"_Sirius!_" she said, but a second later she knew there was no call to be shocked. _Yes. Sirius. I should have known._

"You--you should go back to bed, Lily. Before we--we do something we--" 

Remus had started shaking again, beads of sweat flying from his brow. Lily had noticed how calm he was when they were in contact with each other, how touching and kissing her had somehow centered him, made him focussed and strangely in control of himself (while this made _her_ feel entirely _un_focussed and _out_-of-control). None of his advances seemed awkward or unsure, oddly enough. There was a confidence in all of his actions that wasn't suggested by his quivering when they weren't touching. _What's wrong with him?_ she had wondered yet again. _And if physical contact of this sort makes it better, why hasn't he sought it out before?"_ But then she realized how awkward that could be, to ask for someone's touch for _medical_ reasons. 

"Are you certain, Remus?" she had whispered, reaching out her hand to caress his cheek, feeling the soft growth that had already sprouted there. He groaned when she touched him, closing his eyes and leaning into her hand, unable to stop himself from touching his lips to her palm, the inside of her wrist, the soft skin on the inside of her forearm, the crook of her elbow.... 

Lily gasped as his lips traveled up her arm; she felt her control slipping away, and found herself thinking _I need to be in control all of the time WHY?_

But then Remus wrenched himself away from her as though it required a superhuman effort. 

"Go back to bed, Lily!" he choked out before rising and running back down the stairs. She was no longer covered by the cloak and she couldn't see him, although she heard his feet pattering down the stairs.... 

The bell rang and Lily looked up as though waking from a deep sleep. The other students were packing their bags and chattering about what they wanted for lunch. Lily packed her rucksack slowly, under the disapproving gaze of Professor McGonagall. She tried to slink out of the room fast on the heels of Moira and Myra, but Professor McGonagall was not going to let this happen. 

"Miss Evans, may I see you please?" 

Lily turned slowly, her stomach clenching within her, and not with hunger. She heard the other students' footsteps disappearing down the corridor, walking toward blessed freedom, while she was faced with her rather humorless-looking Transfiguration teacher and head-of-house. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen Professor McGonagall's lips go so thin. 

But as Professor McGonagall looked grimly at Lily, her expression slowly softened. "Lily, your mind was not on your work today." Lily looked sheepish. 

"I'm--I'm sorry Professor. I'll--I'll get the notes from James, in case I missed anything." 

Professor McGonagall was looking at her more kindly now. "How is your mother, Lily? I do hope you had a nice visit with your family during the holidays. If there is ever anything you wish to discuss--" 

Lily mostly wanted to discuss ways she could manage to drop into a hole in the floor, preferably one that led down to the dungeons where someone _should_ be banished for thinking about boys instead of a poor dying mother...._No,_ she immediately corrected her thought. _Mum is _not_ dying._ She looked up at Professor McGonagall, swallowing. 

"Yes, the holiday was fine. Mum is feeling a little better. She was home, so we were able to have a normal Christmas," she told Professor McGonagall. _If normal is everyone walking on eggshells all of the time and never daring to say the words 'sick' or 'dying,' let alone 'cancer' or 'chemotherapy.'_

"Good, good. Perhaps you will soon be able to devote your full attention to your studies again," she said now, a little sterner, looking over her square-rimmed spectacles at the abnormally tall girl. 

Lily kept wishing and wishing for that hole in the floor, but none appeared. "Yes ma'am," she said meekly. 

"Now off to lunch with you!" she said, shooing Lily out the door and turning back to her desk to collect her own things. Lily didn't need to be told twice; she bolted from the room and then ran flat-out down the corridor to the stairs. When she reached the Great Hall she was out of breath and the only place left to sit at the Gryffindor table was between Sirius and James. 

She gritted her teeth and sat, ignoring Sirius' presence, turning to James and saying, "I think I missed some things during class. Can I borrow your Transfiguration notes later?" 

He looked wide-eyed and alarmed for some reason. He'd just taken a bite of shepherd's pie and the mashed potatoes were clearly visible through his open mouth. Lily made a face and reached out and pushed his jaw upward with a snap. He came to his senses and swallowed his food. 

"Er, yes, of course. Fine. Except--they're rather a mess. Very disorganized. Let me copy them over for you first." She saw that his Transfiguration copybook was sitting on the table, next to his plate. 

"I'm sure it's fine. I've managed to make out your handwriting before--" 

"No!" he screamed suddenly, snatching the book away from her reach. Everyone around them stared. "Er, I mean--no. I don't want to put you through that. Really. I don't mind copying them over for you." 

Lily looked suspiciously at the book. "What's in that book, James Potter?" she said softly, her face very close to his. 

James glanced over his shoulder and Lily glanced too; he seemed to be looking in the direction of the Hufflepuff table. _Bonnie._ Right. _I should have known,_ Lily thought. She gave him a conspiratorial smile. 

"If you've been writing some love-poetry or something for Bonnie, I promise not to laugh," she whispered to him. "I could even look it over for you. I swear I won't say a word to her. It'll be a total surprise. Are you working on something for Valentine's Day?" 

James looked frozen for a moment, then abruptly, his facial features came to life again. "Yes! That's it. But no! I mean--" He dropped his voice. "I'd be too embarrassed for anyone to look at it," he whispered back. "It's--it's really dreadful. Needs a lot of work. Please--just let me copy over the notes for you. All right?" 

Lily smiled at him; his ears were red under his messy black hair and he suddenly looked very young to her, like a ten-year-old with his first crush. "I promise not to say anything to Bonnie. I'm sure she'll be thrilled with whatever you give her. What girl wouldn't want a boy to write her a love poem?" 

James smiled feebly, scooping more food onto his fork. "Right. What girl wouldn't want that?" he mumbled before filling his mouth again. 

Lily hadn't taken any food yet; she didn't feel very hungry. However, they had Double Potions with the Slytherins that afternoon, and she knew that if she didn't eat something the potion she was brewing would likely start to look tempting before long. She reached for a chicken leg and as she was placing it on her plate, she raised her eyes and met Remus Lupin's gaze across the table. 

_What girl wouldn't want that....?_

She lowered her eyes again, sinking her teeth into the chicken, trying not to choke on it, hoping she could convince it to stay in her stomach. _Remus, Remus....What's wrong with me? Why do you hold me and kiss me and look at me like you love me--and then ignore me?_

As soon as she'd returned from the holiday, she'd gone to see Madam Pomfrey. She'd hemmed and hawed about why she'd come to see her, looking for bruises or scratches on her arms or legs, but she was surprisingly unmarked for someone who did tend to stumble and fall over her great feet quite a lot. Finally she had tried a different excuse for coming to the infirmary. 

"Actually, I'm here because of--um--my monthly--um--" 

"Aaah--" Madam Pomfrey breathed in understanding. She was shocked by how squeamish some of the girls were about discussing this--especially the Muggle-born girls. She clucked as she came to sit next to Lily on the side of the infirmary bed. _Poor thing...she probably had such a backward upbringing...._

"Except--" Lily went on, "--it's actually--I'm really here to find out how--well--to keep on _having_ my monthly--er--what I mean is--" 

"Ooooh!" Madam Pomfrey said again. _She was afraid of getting pregnant._ Well, it was not for nothing that Hogwarts had been a coeducational boarding school for a thousand years. Most Muggle institutions, she knew, had been single-sex schools until very recently, and quite a number still were. She, on the other hand, was an old hand at giving out a certain potion and turning a blind eye. She knew that teenagers will be teenagers, and it was best to be realistic and do what was necessary to prevent accidents... 

"I know just what you need, my dear," she said, patting Lily's knee briskly, then rising and disappearing into her office. Lily bit her lip, panic rising in her chest. She considered bolting, but Madam Pomfrey was back very quickly; evidently, it was very easy for her to lay her hands on what she needed. 

She handed Lily a corked vial with an amber liquid in it. "Prophylaxis Potion. Lasts six months. That's a year's worth right there. Two doses. Will that suit you? You're lucky. This is a good time to get it. You can just remember to have more right at the beginning of January next year." 

Lily looked at her, terrified. This felt so--so _premeditated._ And the matron was being so matter-of-fact about it all. If Lily did this, she would be changed forever. _But I almost already was changed forever,_ she remembered, trying to think whether she loathed or loved the first year boys for intruding on her and Remus. _And if it happens again....there will be one less thing to worry about....one less thing to stop us...._

She uncorked the vial and some wispy smoke emerged from the neck of the bottle. Madam Pomfrey looked urgent now. 

"Drink it quickly. Don't let the vapor dissipate." 

Lily looked at her again, wide-eyed, then back at the vial. She took a deep breath and put it to her lips, tipping her head back quickly, remembering how her father would take a shot of whiskey after returning home from seeing her mother, when her mum was undergoing radiation.... 

"Good girl," Madam Pomfrey told her, taking the empty vial, which was still smoking. "No chance of any--_accidents_, eh?" 

Lily felt her blush break out on her face like hives. _No, no accidents here._ She tried to smile at the matron, but the taste of the potion had been the vilest thing that had ever passed her lips. She licked her lips uncertainly, wondering how many days it would be before the disgusting flavor stopped making her remember the stuff. Evidently, she was not successful at hiding her opinion of the potion's taste. 

"Oh, what a face!" Madam Pomfrey chuckled. Lily scowled; just what she needed, the matron _laughing_ at her. "I'm sorry dear, I usually bring out the other potion at the same time and I forgot." 

She returned to her office and returned with another vial; this one was a small and brown with a long cork. Madam Pomfrey opened it and poured some viscous tan potion into a spoon. Lily was torn between being nervous about taking something else Madam Pomfrey wanted to give her and being disappointed that it was only a spoonful--how was that little bit going to take away the horrid, disgusting taste, when she'd had an entire vial of the other stuff? 

But she obediently opened her mouth and let Madam Pomfrey put the spoon past her lips; she was immediately pleasantly surprised by a lovely warmth spreading through her limbs, and her mouth was filled not by the taste of the vile Prophylaxis Potion, but a succession of flavors. She could swear she was eating some delicious, creamy tomato soup; long after she knew she had swallowed the contents of the spoon, she could still taste it in her mouth and even feel it flowing down her throat. That was followed by the unmistakable flavor of juicy, tender roast beef and a baked potato with a crispy skin and sweet creamy butter....finally, she tasted the most wonderful blueberry pie with fresh whipped cream. It--it felt so _real_. She swallowed and looked up at Madam Pomfrey in amazement. The matron looked rather smug. 

"There you go! Isn't that much better?" Lily nodded, her eyes wide. Madam Pomfrey sniffed. "Perfectly good bad-taste antidote potion and _he_ had to go and try to turn it into _chewing gum_..." She was bustling around again as though she'd forgotten Lily was there. 

"Who?" Lily asked quietly. 

"Will--oh, never mind," Madam Pomfrey said, flustered, having begun to answer and thinking better of it. "You go on now, and no more worries. If you have any questions, feel free to return. I, ah, have some books which you may find to be helpful...." 

Lily blushed. The idea of coming to Madam Pomfrey for anything else connected to _this_ was appalling (although she was glad that even if she did come back, she could ask for books, instead of being subjected to face-to-face advice). 

"Thank you. I'll remember that." 

After she left, Madam Pomfrey shook her head while straightening up her office. She hoped the poor girl wasn't going to get her heart broken. That was often the way, the first time. At least, she reasoned, even if she did choose the wrong boy, she wouldn't have to worry about a baby on top of all that. 

* * * * *

Remus didn't look at her all through lunch. Lily sighed and shouldered her rucksack, falling into step beside Cecilia, who was looking cross with her again. Lily decided not to speak to her; she wasn't interested in getting into a row just before a long class and feeling out of sorts during the entire afternoon. Remus and now James were already making her feel out of sorts, she didn't need Cecilia to make things worse. Why did she always feel so _alone_? 

They filed into the Potions dungeon and went to their work stations; Severus Snape was already at the station he shared with Lily Evans. He started to smile at her as she approached, then shyly looked down at his text instead, averting his eyes from her. She heaved another sigh as she sat and removed her text and parchment and quills from her bag, her loneliness threatening to completely overwhelm her. _I'm not an overgrown baby,_ she told herself sternly. _I will not cry because I feel like I don't have any real friends...._

She kept her eyes doggedly on her parchment as she wrote down what the Potions Master was writing on the chalkboard, trying to ignore the presence of Severus beside her. Finally, she looked up at his profile; he was bent over his own parchment, intent on his work, and she wondered again how a boy could seem so unmistakably to like her and yet want nothing to do with her at the very same time. 

Suddenly he turned and met her gaze, and for the moment when their eyes locked, Lily felt a spark of hope. But then the professor began to speak again, and Severus abruptly turned his face to the front, and when they pulled out their cauldrons and began brewing the potion of the day, he managed to be constantly staring into the cauldron, or at measuring cups, or into flagons of this extract or that....He always managed to have somewhere to look other than at _her._

She turned from him and focussed on her own work, working with her usual precision, getting that satisfying feeling from everything coming together _just right_, producing the desired result. 

When it was late afternoon, their potions had all been simmering long enough, and the professor sent the Thompson twins round with flasks for everyone to store their potions. Lily poured her decoction into her flask very carefully, trying not to tip the funnel, then magically glued a piece of parchment on the side with her name, year, house, and the name of the potion on the side. Next, Igor Karkaroff came round with a tray to collect everyone's flasks. As she placed hers on the tray, Lily shivered under Karkaroff's gaze; she didn't like him at all and avoided sitting near him at prefects' meetings whenever she could. She knew that he also frequently made life difficult for Severus. She saw Severus stiffen and glare at Karkaroff when he noticed the way he was looking at Lily, and Lily felt a small bit of satisfaction inside. Then she looked up and noticed that Sirius was also bristling, noticing both Karkaroff _and_ Snape. 

She also noticed that Remus was shaking and sweating again, leaning on his worktable, looking as though he might faint any second; his eyes were dilated so that they looked almost completely black, and there was that red flash again.... 

The bell rang for the end of class, and as they were filing out, Lily touched Remus' arm and said softly to him, "Can I talk to you?" He swallowed, then looked down where she'd touched him. He nodded mutely and followed her into the corridor. He was very pale. 

When the other students had filed up the stairs and left them standing in the corridor alone, Lily said nervously, "This way," hoping she would remember the way she had been told. She led them down one corridor, then another, then hesitated, feeling lost. Remus put his hand on her arm. 

"I know a place," he said hoarsely, directing her to a tapestry which, when lifted, revealed a hidden corridor leading to a single door, the door for which she'd been searching. She tried to open it, to no avail. He stepped forward, however, and pulled it open with no problem. 

They both entered; even as he did so, he thought, _We shouldn't be here. It's too risky. We might--_ He didn't even want to _think_ about what they might do. And yet--it was _all_ he'd been thinking about in the previous twenty-four hours. He knew this was a place some students sometimes came at night; he knew what they did here. He had never entered the room, though he had guarded the entrance more than once (for Sirius). Both he and Lily looked around now, wondering how many students had been here, how many assignations had taken place in this hidden corner of the castle.... 

Although the chief distinguishing characteristics of the room were stacks of books and cauldrons festooned by cobwebs, some enterprising person had transfigured a table (or just chopped off its legs) so that it was bed-height, and conjured some cushions and a coverlet for it (the coverlet was the only surface in the room not covered with dust and cobwebs, attesting to its frequent use). Some dim light shone down from a high barred window, but it was otherwise dark. 

Remus swallowed, looking at Lily, his heart beating painfully fast. _We shouldn't be here,_ he thought. _We shouldn't--_

But now Lily was doing the last thing he expected: she was crying. She couldn't hold it in any longer. He stared at her in surprise, wondering what had brought this on. 

"Do you--do you hate me, Remus?" she managed to finally say, after several false starts. 

His jaw dropped. "Lily! Of--of course not! You're--you're one of my best friends--" He winced then; oh, _that_ sounded wonderful. _Best friends._

"It's just that--last month, just before the holidays, and the month before that, we--we--" 

He nodded. "I--I know. Listen, Lily, there's something I have to tell you...." He looked at her dear, dear face, the tears streaming down it, her enormous green eyes. _Tell her,_ his brain screamed. _Tell her and get it over with._

But he couldn't. He couldn't bear the thought of the fear and revulsion he knew he would see on her face when she found out. Telling his mates was different. None of _them_ were considering being intimate with him. They could all change into their Animagus forms and be safe with him. _Lily isn't safe with me,_ he knew. And then he also knew that he couldn't tell her the truth--not the complete truth. 

"I've--I've got a problem. I contracted a kind of illness when I was young, and--and every so often it makes me feel--makes me feel kind of insane. It makes me want--want--" 

She watched his face carefully, the truth dawning on her. _Oh. It's a disease. He doesn't really want ME--he wants ANYONE._ Her face dropped when she realized what was going on. That explained it. That explained a lot. Why else would he seem so intent on being with her sometimes, and avoiding her other times? 

And yet--when he lifted his eyes to her again, the desire and emotion she saw there seemed so _genuine._ She caught her breath upon seeing it. Maybe--maybe if she _helped_ him, she thought. Maybe he'd come round.... 

She blushed at the thought. This was very different now than what she'd envisioned. She hadn't imagined treating this like a medical cure of some kind, some clinical encounter with a goal in mind other than physically demonstrating their love. But maybe--maybe if she _did_ help him-- 

"Remus," she said softly. "When we were together in the common room, both times, I noticed--I noticed that I made you a little calmer. You're--you're right. We _are_ friends. Maybe--if you'd like--I could help you with this problem. As--as a friend." 

There. She'd said it. She felt her face burning, hoping he didn't think she was a dreadful person. She wanted to say, _I love you Remus. Please love me too..._ She wanted this to be so different, but perhaps that would come with time.... 

Remus stared at her. Had he heard what he _thought_ he had heard? Did he possibly have the opportunity to be with the angel of his dreams, who was now offering to be an angel of mercy? She was walking toward him, shaking nervously, and when she was standing right in front of him, his senses started to go into overdrive. She had only to touch his arm lightly with her hand and he pulled her to him, seeking her mouth hungrily, pulling at her lips, and when she slid her arms around his neck and opened her mouth under his he felt something in him collapse at last, the wall which separated him from others, which prevented him from experiencing this last intimacy.... 

He slid his mouth down her neck, feeling her pulse, teasing it with his teeth and hearing her sharp intake of breath. He was calm again, purposeful, working somehow with a sixth sense that didn't come from any experience but something bone-deep and ancient, urging him on.... 

"_Just so you know_," she whispered in his ear, her voice sounding very loud to him, "_I've been to Madam Pomfrey for that potion_." He pulled back from her; in the darkness, others would not have been able to see her expression, but with his wolf's eyes he could see the look of complete trust on her face, and--_love_? How could she love _him_? No, he thought. You're just being delusional. She said she was doing this _as a friend._ Don't go making more of it than-- 

"Ah!" he cried out as her hands made tentative contact with him. He reached for her again, pulling her against his body roughly, and they tumbled onto the makeshift bed. As each garment was removed, Remus felt calmer and more in control, and Lily felt more and more agitated and _out_ of control. He caressed and kissed her, tasting every bit of skin he could, and her breathing became faster and faster, until she could wait no longer, and she pulled him to her, her intentions completely clear. 

Remus had never felt so at peace with the world; being one with Lily was amazing. He felt both strong and weak, elated and sad. Somehow, it didn't matter that these conflicting emotions were rolling through him; they cancelled each other out and left a serenity in their wake that was suddenly interrupted by an ecstasy so intense that he had to clamp his mouth to her neck to stifle his cry. 

She uttered her own cry of surprise, closing her eyes, then opening them again, her hands grasping his upper arms convulsively. As she tumbled to earth, trying to get her breath, she became aware of a stickiness in her hair, near her ear. She put her hand on her neck and Remus's sharp eyes could see that it came away red. 

He pulled away from her, horrified. _I've bitten her._ "Oh, Lily! I'm--I'm so sorry!" he stammered. He found his wand and lit it, getting a better view of the dark red stain on her neck and hand. _It was a good thing I didn't pierce her jugular!_ And then he saw that his fingers had left bruises on her arms and legs, and he saw scratches on her hip, and on one breast.....He hadn't realized he'd been so rough with her. It was a matter, he supposed, of not realizing his own strength. He felt like dying. _I've hurt Lily_. He'd been careless and let himself go and now.... 

But she was being very calm about it. They were lying on top of their Hogwarts robes; she reached into the pile of Muggle clothes on the floor, looking for her wand. She quickly dealt with the wound on her neck, and cleaned the blood from her hand and hair. Remus watched her do this, feeling dreadful. 

"It's all right, really," she said shakily. 

_Thank goodness I'm in my human form,_ he thought. He hoped that the bite, the scratches and the bruises were the worst of it. What if he had broken some of her bones? How would they explain that to Madam Pomfrey, let alone Professor McGonagall? What if-- 

"Remus," Lily was whispering now, reaching out her hand to him. "How do you feel?" 

"How do _I_ feel? I feel--Oh, Lily. I've never felt so--so--" 

She smiled in the dark. "Me too. I mean--do you feel calmer?" 

He closed his eyes and thought about this, and discovered that he really was utterly serene now. He wasn't sweating or shaking, he didn't feel as though his blood was racing through his veins at ten times the normal speed, that his heart was running away with him. "Yes. I feel--I feel fine," he whispered back, a huge understatement. She took his wand and extinguished the light, then put both wands back on the floor with their clothes. She reached her hand out to him again, beckoning him, and he obeyed, lying by her side, holding her, feeling that smooth skin under his fingers once more, trying not to think of the bruises he'd caused. He looked at her well-loved face in the dark, knowing that she didn't suspect that he could see her quite clearly. He wanted so much to tell her his feelings. He was already so in love with her, and now--now she had done this wonderful thing-- 

But it wasn't because _she_ loved _him_, he reminded himself. In a _way_, it was, because it was her love for him as a friend. But it wasn't the kind of love he wanted from her....He swallowed, continuing to watch her, holding her to him. 

Lily listened to his breathing as he fell asleep, knowing that she was changed forever. He had been rougher than she had expected, at times, and then unexpectedly gentle at others. She felt overwhelmed, processing all of the new sensations and desires. But although he had finally opened himself up to her this way, she could feel that there was still a part of him that he withheld from her. _Can't you love me with your heart too, Remus?_ she thought as she put her hand on his bare chest, feeling the rhythm of his life beneath her palm. _It will happen,_ she told herself firmly. Give it time. Give _him_ time. 

_It will happen._

* * * * *

Bill put his goblet down after taking a long swig of pumpkin juice, washing down a very large dinner. He felt very sleepy now, with his full tummy, and wished he didn't have to write a yard-long History of Magic parchment, due in the morning. _At least I'm not in fifth year yet_, he thought, listening to the things the older students were doing to prepare for the O.W.L.s. 

Across the table, Cecilia Ratkowski, Lily's friend, was saying to James Potter, "Where's Lily? Did you see where she went after Potions? We were going to meet in the library before dinner, but she never showed up." 

James looked up and down the table, frowning. "I don't know where she went. Did you see where Remus went? He doesn't seem to be here either." 

Bill pricked up his ears. Did that mean anything? Maybe it did and maybe it didn't. But--Sirius Black had a _look_ on his face that might mean it _did_ mean something.... 

James stood and announced, "I'm going to go look for them." 

Sirius pulled him down and hissed at him, "_Leave them alone._" When he suddenly met Bill's gaze and scowled at him, Bill ducked his head; grotty ickle firsties weren't supposed to eavesdrop on fifth-years. 

"What do you mean? They've missed dinner. They'll be hungry. I'm just going to--" 

But Sirius muttered something in James' ear, something which made the prefect go bright red. 

"_Oh,_" James said softly, swallowing. "Are you sure?" 

"Well, I'm not entirely, but I've put two and two together and come up with--two. If you know what I mean." 

James nodded, still red. "Right." 

Bill looked down quickly again before Sirius could send another glare his way. Why was James Potter being so queer about his friends? he wondered. After all, he'd been in the common room with his Hufflepuff girlfriend. Bill saw Bonnie smile and wave at James now, across the Great Hall. James smiled back and gave a small wave. Sirius nudged him. 

"You and Bonnie have _plans_ tonight?" 

James grimaced. "Just to meet in the library to do homework. Stop looking like that Sirius! I'm not kidding. It's not _code_ for something else. The trouble is--there's something I need to get--" 

He looked furtively around, and Bill now tried to look very interested in the crumbs from his chocolate cake. James' voice had dropped; Bill strained to hear what he was saying above the hubbub of the Great Hall. 

"--from a _certain place_, for which I need a _certain product_ from Mr. Moony, Mr. Padfoot, Mr. Wormtail and Mr. Prongs. Trouble is, I think _Remus_ has just what I need...." 

Sirius nodded. "_Right_," he whispered. "_I gave it to him this morning. He sometimes feels the need to go off alone the day before. You know. He can use it to make sure no one sneaks up on him._" 

Bill tried not to look as interested in this as he really was. _The day before what?_ And what sort of object didn't allow people to sneak up on you? he wondered. He didn't think it was the Invisibility Cloak that he knew James Potter owned. And he had no idea who Mr. Moony, Mr. Padfoot, Mr. Wormtail or Mr. Prongs were. He'd ask Alex later. If anyone knew, it was Alex. 

Dinner was over and the students started moving off toward the entrance hall and up the marble stairs to their dormitories, except for the Slytherins, who went down to the dungeons to reach theirs. 

Lily awoke in utter darkness, disoriented, wondering where she was. Moving her hands down, she realized to her horror that she wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing. Then she felt Remus' hot breath on her neck and remembered. She shook him. 

"Remus!" she hissed. "Wake up! We can't stay down here. Oh, I hope it isn't too late at night....If Filch catches us trying to get back into Gryffindor Tower...." 

She fumbled for her wand and lit it. The small light was just strong enough to show both of their pale bodies, and she noticed now the bruises that Remus had caused in his passion. She swallowed. Should she go to Madam Pomfrey? she wondered. The matron might try to find out who had done it. She might get Remus in trouble. _And_ her parents might find out. That was the last thing she needed. Lily hadn't even noticed him giving her the bruises, just as she hadn't been immediately aware of his biting her; she was too caught up in what they were doing. 

Then she had the opportunity to look at Remus, and she caught her breath, wishing now that she'd been able to _see_ him earlier. Her first thought was that he was beautiful, which she knew men didn't want to hear, but her second thought was that he looked like she'd done him far more damage than he'd done her. Then she touched the marks on his arms and chest, realizing that they were old, that she couldn't have done that to him. _What have you been through, Remus?_ she wondered. She brushed his hair tenderly from his face and tried to wake him again by leaning over and gently kissing him. 

"Remus. _Remus._" 

His eyes finally opened, just a little at first. Then they flew open in shock, and Lily realized that he was probably just as surprised as she had been. 

He gazed at her. _So beautiful...._ His sharp intake of breath made her flush, so that her flesh was no longer pale, but taking on a rosy glow. She didn't move to cover herself, and Remus didn't either. He reached his hand up to her face, cupping her cheek in his hand, glad that they felt so natural around each other now, that they could just _be_ together like this without embarrassment or scrambling to throw on clothes. He had never dreamed it would be possible for him to feel so at peace before the full moon. He felt like he was reborn, and it was all because of her. 

"Remus, what time is it?" Lily, however, did not sound relaxed. She seemed quite agitated. 

He leaned over the side of their "bed," fumbling amongst his clothes to find the watch he'd removed. When he located it he held it near her wandlight so he could see it. 

"Seven-fifteen." 

Her jaw dropped. "We've been here all night? Oh, no--we're going to be in so much trouble--" 

He sat up now and took her hands, never having felt more calm and collected. "No, Lily, I think it's seven-fifteen _at night_. Dinner probably ended about forty-five minutes ago. We're fine. If we get back to the common room by nine or ten no one will care. Don't worry. Let's get dressed." 

When they were wearing their clothes again, Remus said, "Wait. Before we go, there's something I want to check." He pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket and spread it on the bed, directing Lily to hold her wandlight over it so he could see it adequately. She frowned. 

"What's--" 

"_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,_" he pronounced carefully, waving his wand over the parchment. Slowly, the map of Hogwarts that he had helped create started spreading over the parchment. Lily Evans' mouth was hanging open in amazement. 

"How--when--how--my _god_, Remus! This is--this is absolutely brilliant!" She picked up the map and held it before her, her eyes scanning over it rapidly. "And look! There are names!" 

He laughed, taking the parchment from her gently. "I know, Lily. I helped create it." 

"_You!_" 

"And James and Sirius and Peter." 

"But--but where on earth did you find out about how to enchant a piece of parchment so it would do _this_?" 

Remus watched the wonder on her face, enjoying her reaction. "Well, you know James' Invisibility Cloak? It's also rather useful for looking into the books in the Restricted Section of the library late at night..." 

"_Remus!_" 

He laughed. "Oh, don't be so shocked. You knew we'd been getting up to mischief for the last five years." 

"Yes, but I had no idea _how much_ mischief, or what kind. _The Restricted Section_!" 

_You still have no idea,_ he thought ruefully. He waved the map. "Well, our rule-breaking produced this. And _this_ will help us get to the kitchens for a bit of food, then back up to Gryffindor Tower without running into a single person. Well worth it, I think." 

She laughed now, sitting and shaking her head. "If the four of you applied yourselves as much to your schoolwork--" 

"--we wouldn't have the time to devote to truly _interesting_ and _useful_ pieces of wizardry, like this map." 

She grinned at him and he smiled back at her in the dim light from her wand. His eyes were their usual hazel again, and he had a charming dimple in his left cheek when he smiled. She caught her breath, marveling at what they had done again. She swallowed, still gazing at him. Then she couldn't resist voicing her thoughts. 

"You have such a nice smile," she whispered. 

But that made the smile disappear. She felt her heart sink into her shoes. He reached out and touched her neck, where he'd bitten her. "Are you sure you're all right, Lily?" 

She nodded soberly. "You just--you were very enthusiastic," she said softly. 

He grimaced, then looked down at the map again. There were some Slytherins passing through the corridor where the tapestry hung that obscured the passage leading to this room. After those students passed, they were finally able to leave and make their way to the kitchens. The house-elves waited on them hand and foot for a while (Lily could never get used to that) and then they used several secret passages to reach the corridor where the Fat Lady guarded the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. They entered separately, first Lily, Remus fifteen minutes later. 

When he entered, Lily was nowhere in sight. He joined James, Sirius and Peter near the fire, explaining that he had needed to go off alone, since he was feeling slightly ill before the full moon, but he was feeling much better now. Peter nodded and asked him whether he'd done his Transfiguration essay, and could he copy some of it, while James and Sirius exchanged significant glances that Remus didn't like. He turned the map over to James before going up to bed. It was a strange sensation, sleeping in his own bed the night before the full moon without feeling ill with desire; he lay back and closed his eyes, thinking of Lily as he drifted off into a peaceful slumber. 

On the other side of Remus' closed bed hangings, the large black dog sniffed the air quite a lot, and then he seemed to nod. _He knew that smell._ Suddenly, the dog changed into a black-haired teenage boy, looking grimly at the closed hangings. 

"Please don't hurt her," he whispered to his sleeping friend, before returning to his own bed, where he tossed sleeplessly for hours before finally succumbing to exhaustion. 

* * * * *

_Tuesday, 21 April, 1976_

Bill sighed. He hated Herbology. It just seemed to drag on and on and on. No matter what he did, he couldn't seem to get interested in taking care of the plants in the greenhouses. He could answer any questions Professor Sprout put to him about spleenwort or bloodwort or St. John's wort, but he just could not be interested in the plants in anything other than an academic capacity. 

It didn't help that it was just over two weeks since he had returned from the Burrow for the Easter holiday, and a fresh wave of homesickness was washing over him. He missed talking to Charlie at night, he missed Annie and Peggy, he missed his dad, and most of all, he missed his mum. He was her right hand, especially now that she was so far along with the baby.... 

It had been something of a shock to get the owl at the end of February about the new baby coming. He would have another little brother or sister in early September, not long after Annie's birthday. _Poor baby,_ he thought. September birthday. Because of Annie's birthday being on the first, when they always started school, hers was always celebrated before the end of August, and then on the day itself--nothing. Bill thought he would find that pretty depressing, but Annie didn't seem to mind, as she received her presents early. He had remembered about a month after he'd started school that he'd forgotten to say anything to her about her birthday on the day itself, since he was starting Hogwarts and was understandably distracted. _When I'm a dad,_ he thought, _I'll make sure none of my kids are born around the first of September._

His birthday was in early January, so he'd received his presents during the Christmas holiday, as usual. _That's another thing I won't do when I have kids,_ he thought. _No kid should be born so close to Christmas that the two events get lumped together._ Christmas presents should be Christmas presents and birthday presents should be birthday presents, and _never the twain shall meet._ Charlie was lucky; his birthday was on Valentine's Day, but he always had a proper birthday anyway because Valentine's Day just wasn't the same as Christmas. 

He heaved another sigh and checked his watch; in ten minutes the bell would ring for lunch and he'd be out of the bloody greenhouse and eating in the Great Hall. All around him, the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs in his year were writing down information about Devil's Snare and trying to avoid getting too close to the specimen Professor Sprout was showing them; she had caused the frosted roof panels in the greenhouse to go pitch black, blocking the sun, so they could see what the plant was like when it wasn't inhibited. When she ended the spell on the roof panels and the plant shriveled back into its oversized pot again, the boy sitting next to Bill whistled through his teeth, impressed. Bill didn't know him very well; he was the boy whose name hadn't been on the sorting list in September. 

"Amazing, isn't it?" the boy said in wonder, his eyes round as saucers. Bill shrugged nonchalantly. 

"I guess. I'd much rather be in Charms or Transfiguration, though. I don't think I've ever been so bored in my _life,_" Bill confided in a whisper. 

The dark-haired boy lifted his eyes from his parchment. "Really? I'm dreadful in those classes. Unless it's a written test. I can explain the theory just fine. I just--" 

Then Bill remembered that this boy also hadn't been able to fly when they'd had their flying lessons during the autumn term. As soon as Bill had walked up to his broom and said, "_Up!_" it had leapt into his hand. But then, he and Charlie had been flying around the Burrow for years, practicing Quidditch in the nearby orchard. It took longer for some others, but within ten minutes everyone but this boy had been floating in the air on a broom, while he stood over his, still crying "_Up! Up!_" repeatedly, starting to look like he was on the verge of tears. Madam Hooch had gently suggested that he stay after and let her give him private tuition. Bill never did find out whether the boy had learnt to fly. 

Bill shook his head. "I hate written tests. I can _do_ them. It's just a bore to me, though. I'd rather be _doing_ magic, not just writing about it. And History of Magic--well, the less said about that, the better." 

The other boy laughed. "I don't mind the reading for that. It's very interesting. But I agree with you about the class. Even _I_ can't stay awake in _that_ one." 

Bill laughed too, and, a little sheepishly, because they'd been in the same Herbology class all year, said, "What's your name?" 

"Geoff. I know yours. You're Bill Weasley." 

Bill nodded. Professor Sprout had had to upbraid him more than once for falling asleep in her class, taking points from Gryffindor while she was at it. Bill shuddered to think how many points he'd cost his house because Herbology was right before lunch, and he habitually fell asleep from hunger. 

He was very glad that he was not in Hufflepuff; he doubted that she would have been as indulgent with him as Professor McGonagall had been when he'd returned from the Christmas holiday and Filch still wanted to give him his detention. Bill explained to her that Booth had heard noises in the common room (although he didn't describe them) and that he had taken it upon himself to ask the Fat Lady whether anyone had opened the portrait hole because no one else had wanted to do it. Unlike Filch, McGonagall had nodded approvingly at his initiative and canceled the detention. Bill had tried not to grin maniacally when leaving her office; he knew he was the closest thing she had to a pet amongst the first years, and he didn't want her to think he was taking advantage of her. 

Charms and Transfiguration were his favorite classes, and he always learned each new skill before anyone else. Both Flitwick and McGonagall frequently had him go around and help others who weren't catching on as quickly. While Flitwick could be absolutely extravagant in his praise, she would just give him a small smile and a nod when she saw his patient words producing the desired results. Because of this, her reactions always meant more to him. Neither teacher usually let a class pass without saying to Bill, "_Ten points for Gryffindor, Mr. Weasley_," often more than once (which helped to make up for the points taken by Sprout), but McGonagall's clear look of approval was always far more encouraging to Bill than twenty or thirty points from Flitwick. 

Bill also never complained if Professor McGonagall said, "Late to class again! Five points from Gryffindor, Mr. Weasley," since he usually made it up later, both in her class and in Flitwick's. (Flitwick, he had noticed, never took points from anyone; he was also freer than McGonagall in distributing praise.) Since Transfiguration was first thing in the morning, he sometimes overslept (yelling at Alex and Orville later for letting him do so) and missed breakfast. On these days, he had to hurry to class while still struggling into his robes and tying his necktie, and he knew his stomach would be rumbling all morning. He did wish he could work out a way to keep from being late; he felt very, very small when she had to upbraid him in this way. Also, when he was late she usually did not have him assist the other students and was even more reticent than usual in giving him praise. (He had blown his chance to be an example by being tardy.) 

Although his head-of-house could be very stern at times, and was definitely someone you didn't want to cross (especially when she was taking points), it was all the more special to Bill when he was saw that subtle look of approval on her face. It wasn't easy to see, but it was there. Bill had learned what to look for; he had also noticed that the other Gryffindor students in his year did not inspire this in her. She never praised him overmuch, though; he assumed she didn't want him to get a swelled head, or to discourage the other students. Bill was never smug or bragged, and his classmates took assistance from him with good grace, never feeling he was looking down on them. 

He looked at kindly Professor Sprout, who was nonetheless frequently exasperated with him. Nice as she could be most of the time, he couldn't possibly imagine _Herbology_ being _anyone's_ favorite class, but Geoff seemed to enjoy it. 

"Where you from, Geoff?" 

He shrugged. "Here and there. We moved around a lot. You?" 

"Not far from Exeter. We're outside a village called Ottery St. Catchpole." 

"We were in Exeter for a time. Any brothers or sisters?" 

"One brother, two sisters, and another on the way." 

Geoff looked envious. "It's always been just me and my parents. I was _so_ glad when I finally got my Hogwarts letter and could come here instead of picking up and moving every couple of months, sometimes every couple of weeks--" 

Bill squinted at him. "So you _did_ get a letter? I wondered about that--" 

"Yeah, only it looked really old. And it didn't come until a few days before the start of term. I know most people get theirs in June. I've never been able to work that out. Maybe the problem was that we move so often. It was three times last summer. But I definitely received a letter. Best day of my life, that was." 

Bill nodded. Even when he was homesick, he knew just what the other boy meant. 

Finally, the bell rang and Bill leapt up, grinning, his rucksack already packed and on his back. Orville and Alex fell into step beside him as they walked through the allée of oak trees that were like a tunnel leading back to the castle from the greenhouses. 

"Did you _ever_ think we'd get out of there?" Alex groaned as they trudged heavily up the sloping path, the green boughs forming a roof over their heads. 

"Never," answered Orville with feeling, rubbing his empty stomach through his robes. 

Bill was silent, thinking of his mother's wonderful meals, and wishing he could be at home to help her manage. He hadn't let her get up almost the entire time he'd been at home; he'd insisted that anything she needed he could get for her. He'd taken care of tucking in Peggy and Annie at night while his father was working late at the office (again), and he was very stern with Charlie whenever he seemed like he might be making a mess or doing anything else to make more work for their mother. Charlie had been cross with him a few times because of this, and Bill had had to restrain himself from cuffing him when Charlie had called him 'Mum,' in a very snide voice. 

He sighed as he ate his roast chicken and buttered peas. He saw the Hufflepuff boy, Geoff, sitting at the table on the other side of the hall, and he wondered briefly what it would be like to be an only child, and to live the kind of nomadic existence he had evidently led before coming to Hogwarts. Then Bill wondered again why Geoff hadn't been on the list of students to be sorted; he also wondered why had had received his Hogwarts letter so late in the summer.... 

Alex nudged him. "Go on. Go talk to her. You know you want to." Bill looked up in alarm, wondering what on earth Alex was talking about. While he was thinking and chewing, Bill had been staring into space, but as he widened his eyes, he saw now that it appeared that he had been gazing longingly at the Slytherin table, and specifically, at Roxanne Maine-Thorpe. 

He grimaced and elbowed Alex right back. "Sod off. I wasn't looking at _her._" 

Alex went back to his own food, grinning. "But you are often enough. You should see yourself in Potions..." 

Bill thought about bringing up Mary Ann Boxwood, but as she was sitting right across from the two of them, he decided to ignore his friend instead. He bent over his plate, determined to show that he didn't give two Knuts what Roxanne Maine-Thorpe was up to. 

Lily Evans was sitting to his left, playing with her food with her fork, a listless expression on her face. Bill chewed and swallowed. 

"Are you all right?" he asked her, concerned. She nodded. 

"I'll be fine," she said tonelessly, not looking at him. Then she turned and picked up her rucksack, leaving without looking at anyone. Bill looked at her full plate. She didn't appear to have eaten anything. 

The four boys in her year followed her with their eyes. Sirius tried to get Remus' attention, to no avail. He elbowed James and looked at him with raised eyebrows. James shrugged, then said softly, "I'll find out." 

He rose and went after her; in the entrance hall, before Lily had a chance to go down the stairs to the dungeons, he called her name. She turned, wearing the same listless expression. 

"What's wrong, Lily?" he asked her, his face very concerned. 

She couldn't even muster up the energy to give him a false smile. 

"I'm fine," she lied, her face drawn and tired. There were dark circles under her green eyes, which looked very dull. 

"Staying up late too often?" he asked. "Too much O.W.L. revision?" 

She shook her head, not looking at him but at some indeterminate spot on the floor. She seemed to do that so often lately, tune out and stare at nothing. He'd become so accustomed to this that he was jolted when she met his eyes. 

"Do you think I'm a good person, James?" she asked him abruptly. 

"Wh-what?" he sputtered, startled. "Of--of course you are, Lily. Why on earth would you ask such a question?" 

But now she was staring at some point in the distance again, shaking her head slowly, as if in a trance. "No reason..." 

She turned and started walking down the stairs with no warning, no farewell. James continued to stand in the entrance hall, frowning, knowing that Lily Evans was definitely _not_ all right, but not knowing why or what to do about it. She was his friend, and he hated seeing her like this. Was she depressed about something? Knowing her, she was having a pre-O.W.L. crisis of confidence. He was suffering from a bit of that himself. Bonnie was going to meet with him in the library after their last class; he could invite Lily to come along and join them. She'd see that everyone was feeling anxious and inadequate about the upcoming ordeal. No one looked forward to the O.W.L.s, or assumed that they were going to do well. She needed to see that her jitters were perfectly normal. 

Lily reached the Potions dungeon and walked to her work station. She unpacked her supplies and waited for the other students to arrive for class, then sighed, thinking of her most recent time with Remus.... 

It had been only three days earlier, and as usual, when they were together, they went after each other passionately, but afterward.... 

She wiped away an errant tear that had run down her nose. She was supposed to be so _clever_, and yet she felt so _stupid_. In January, after their first time, he'd avoided her the next day and then disappeared during the next three nights. The same thing happened in February, and then March. Any time she tried to approach him when he wasn't sweating and shaking, he didn't seem to want to have anything to do with her. Once, in mid-March, she'd cornered him in a remote stairwell and kissed him. He had responded at first, clutching her to him, but then he had abruptly thrust her away, claiming that he had to go to a detention, running off faster than Lily had ever seen anyone move. 

He had even completely overlooked her birthday, which James and Sirius and even Peter had remembered. Someone else had remembered her birthday too, and the thought made her feel warm inside now. Severus had been so nervous about giving her a gift, so shy. It was a book, of course, but it was a book of _sonnets,_ of all things. He had stuttered and bumbled about the entire time, then ran off before she could even open it and thank him. 

She sighed again. Two boys who liked her. One who was even _sleeping_ with her, and yet she didn't have a proper boyfriend, someone who was willing to own up to caring about her, someone who was willing to behave as though she _didn't_ have a disease of some sort, or as though ashamed of her.... 

When Severus Snape arrived with the other Slytherins and took his place next to her, she smiled briefly at him before turning to her work. He met her eyes for a moment, then turned away, making her want to kick something. _What's wrong with me?_ She thought of Sirius' brief period of deciding he wanted to be with her after all. She thought of Remus kissing her passionately and touching her--following by weeks of ignoring her and behaving as though he was afraid to be alone with her. Clearly, she thought, _that_ is the aberration, not the norm. The usual way of things is that Lily Evans is treated like a pariah, an Untouchable. She felt like she was carrying a large sign saying, _To be avoided at all costs. If you want a girlfriend, look anywhere but here._

When she had seen that Remus was in a bad way again, a few days earlier, and had approached him after lunch, she touched his arm gently and asked him, "Remus--do you--do you need me?" 

He had nodded desperately, with a look that burned, and they had hastened down to the dungeons, to the dusty storeroom where they'd gone the first time, and afterward Remus had traced her face with his finger and said softly, "You're so amazing, Lily." 

Her heart had skipped a beat, seeing the look in his eyes. She had brought his hand to her lips and gazed back at him, unwilling to let the moment end. But then he had checked the map again, and found that some other students were approaching the room where they were, so they hastily dressed and left. They were in the corridor near the Potions Dungeon again when she turned and found that he'd disappeared. She whirled, and called his name, but he was gone. Had he taken one of the shortcuts on the map? she wondered. She had leaned against the hard stone wall, sinking down, tears coming unbidden as she longed to be in his arms again, just holding him and being held, telling him she loved him and hearing the same words back. But that happened only in her fantasies.... 

She noticed that Severus was about to add his diced dragon's liver to his potion too soon, and without chopping it finely enough first. She stopped him with her hand on his arm, shaking her head, so that the professor wouldn't notice. 

"Thanks," he whispered, also watching the professor cautiously. "Can you--can you stay and help me a bit after class? There's a potion I'm trying to brew--I could really use your help. I'm starting to get a bit worried about the O.W.L.s." 

She looked up into his eyes, then turned and saw Peter scrutinizing the two of them. She couldn't read his expression. She looked up at Severus again and said quietly, "All right." 

He smiled at her shyly, then turned back to his potion. Lily discreetly took the dragon's liver and her cleaver and chopped it finely on her cutting board, sliding it back to Severus' side of the worktable when she was done. He gave her a small smile and mouthed the words _thank you_. She rewarded him with a brilliant smile. She had to force it a bit, because she was still feeling so down, but she wanted to do this. She had also noticed that Sirius was looking at her and Severus, and unlike Peter, his expression was quite easy to read. He was not happy about her smiling at Severus Snape, not happy at all. _Sod off, Sirius Black,_ she thought. 

At the end of the class, they turned in their potion vials as usual and cleaned their workstations. When the other students were preparing to go, the professor noticed that Severus did not pack up his supplies. 

"I'm staying to do some extra work, Professor," Severus told him. "Preparation for the O.W.L.s. Lily is going to help me." Lily noticed that James swung his head around upon hearing that, and she wondered why he looked so interested. 

The Potions Master accepted this and left them alone in the dungeon. Severus smiled down at Lily and she smiled back. She leaned over, looking at the page he'd marked in the potions text, wondering what they were going to brew. Her hair was falling into her face, which looked very tired but no less beautiful for that. He withdrew the necessary ingredients from his supply of apothecary items. 

Lily watched his hands as he worked; she loved his long, tapered fingers. They looked so elegant. She wondered what he would do if she asked him whether he'd ever played the piano. _Probably run screaming into the night,_ she thought, frowning. He looked up at her. 

"All right, Lily?" 

She gave him a broad smile again. "Yes, Severus. Never better." I'll be cheerful, she thought. Upbeat. A virtual ray of sunshine. No one will be more pleasant company. How could anyone not want to spend time with me? 

He nodded, but looked a little perplexed, as though he could tell she was forcing her cheery mood. "Good," was all he said before turning back to his preparations. 

They chatted as they worked, and slowly, Lily began to feel better. He still did not open up to her any more than he usually did, but he didn't recoil at the mere touch of her hand, either, as Remus did when he wasn't "needing" her. When Severus wasn't looking, she admired the way his closely-trimmed beard and mustache hugged his face, defining his lantern jaw and high cheekbones, remembering that she had initially been upset at noticing this on the first day of the term, in September. _Why was I upset?_ she wondered now. 

The flames beneath the cauldron crackled merrily, and Lily and Severus talked and occasionally laughed as they worked. They never noticed light, careful footsteps on the hard stone floor, footsteps belonging to someone who had entered the room wearing an Invisibility Cloak; a person who stayed long after they had left, thinking about what he had seen, and trying to work out what to do about it.... 

* * * * *

**Notes:** Readers who are familiar with Roald Dahl's _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ will recognize that the second potion Madam Pomfrey gives Lily possesses the same qualities as the gum that turns Violet Beauregarde into a human blueberry. (Lily, obviously, does not suffer that fate.) 

Many, many thanks to my beta team: Andrew (Peglander), Lara Gill (Practical Magic), Aurinia, Court (Atlantis Potter) and George Hobbes. 

Thanks also to everyone who commented on Chapter Two! 

aandffetish, Admantius, Adrena, amrita, Amy~Angel, Andrew, anorel, Baal extremely evil, blaubaerin, Bronte, camdenbatgirluk, Canadian Moose, Chi, Clairvoyant Snake, closet drummer, Corgi, djhawkl, erin, Fefi, Gryffindor Gal, hasselberg_chris, HelenHere, Jedi Knight Jo, jen beckett, JessieAnnPotter, Jewels, JJ_Similior, Jonathan Dupont, jords, Juliadactyl, juliecute945, julietstarz23, Keith Fraser, Lady Luck, Laura C., Lizbo, Lori, Lough51, Luinthoron, Mae, Neil, OliverWoodFan, PaperCut, Pigwidgeon's Owner, Pilar, Polikwaptiwa, poolhop18, PruHalliwell, rogueangel1998, rons_mine_hands_off, Roseann_Riddle, Sabre, Sapphire Flame, Siriusgirl, StarWest45, stockw_98, unsungrhapsody, Wazoo, weird_cowgirl, XLargeFry and zephirus. 

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	4. Liking and Loving

The Lost Generation **Title:** The Lost Generation (1975-1982) (04/20)  
**Author name:** Barb  
**Author email:** blpurdom@yahoo.com  
**Category:** Mystery  
**Sub Category:** Romance  
**Keywords:** MWPP Lily Snape Bill Weasley  
**Rating:** R  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA, Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent, Harry Potter and the Time of Good Intentions  
**Summary:** Bill Weasley begins his education at Hogwarts in 1975, in the middle of Voldemort's reign of terror. He never suspects that the Gryffindor prefects he looks up to, Lily Evans and James Potter, will eventually have a son who saves the wizarding world, nor that the Weasley family will eventually play an important role in the Dark Lord's fall. All he knows is that in a very scary wizarding world, Hogwarts is a safe haven where he has always longed to be--until, that is, there are whispers of vampires and werewolves, of Death Eaters and traitors, and a Seeress pronounces a Prophecy which will shake the wizarding world to its very foundations....  
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.   
**Author notes:** _The Lost Generation_ is the prequel to the _Psychic Serpent Trilogy_, which begins with _Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent_. There are events and characters mentioned which appear in other books in the trilogy (such as two Weasley sisters who were born between Charlie and Percy). While it is not absolutely necessary to read the trilogy first (the third book is in progress) it may be helpful in some respects. A FAQ file concerning the entire story arc is also available on the Psychic_Serpent Yahoo Group website (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Psychic_Serpent .) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**The Lost Generation**

(1975-1982)

Chapter Four

** Liking and Loving**

  
  
  


_Tuesday, 25 August, 1976_

Bill woke to the strident sound of his new baby brother demanding to be fed. He groaned, covered his head with a pillow, rolled over and attempted to get back to sleep. The baby's wailing continued unabated. He lifted up his pillow and peered at the clock on the table between his bed and Charlie's. In the grey pre-dawn light he could see that it was going on five o'clock. _Blimey,_ Bill thought. _I will be so glad to get back to school...._ Finally, the baby's cries lessened and ceased altogether. Bill assumed that his mother had settled into the rocking chair in the corner of his parents' bedroom and put the baby to her breast at last. It had probably taken very little time for her to push her feet into her slippers and plod to the baby's cot, then carry him to the rocking chair, but Bill had quickly been reminded that when a baby is crying, it seems like an eternity. He sighed. The baby wasn't due until the third of September, but had been born early, on the twenty-second of August, almost two weeks sooner than expected. The early arrival had thrown the entire household into chaos. Well, he thought, if we had listened to Peggy, we'd have known.... On the morning the baby was born, Peggy had woken him early, standing next to his bed with her thumb in her mouth, grinning around the soggy digit. "Mum's gonna have the baby," she had said in a monotone, pulling her cheek away from her teeth with the thumb, then resuming her sucking. She didn't look happy. Bill had stared at her, barely awake. He hadn't taken advantage of the traditional summertime luxury of sleeping late now that his mother was so very, very pregnant. He was usually up with the sun, dressing and feeding Peggy and Annie, while Charlie sprawled across his bed, snoring softly, oblivious to the responsibilities Bill had taken on. But this day, Peggy was waking him earlier than usual; the sun was barely up. On the other hand, if he'd known how early the baby would wake him, he'd have considered this to be practically having a lie-in. "What're you doing out of your cot already?" he asked her, barely able to speak, he was so tired. "Climbed," she said simply, around her thumb. "Go back to bed," he said tersely, rolling over and tucking his fist under his pillow, drawing up his knees again, closing his eyes against the morning. Several minutes passed. She didn't move. He could hear her regular breathing behind him. "Mum's gonna have the baby," he heard her say again. "I know!" he exploded, turning around on the bed, punching his pillow. "You've been saying that _all week._ We _know_ she's going to have the baby. Leave me alone." He rolled over again, squeezing his eyes shut, feeling faintly guilty for losing his temper. She wasn't even four years old yet; he shouldn't get hacked off at her. She would be going to the village school for the first time in September, along with Charlie and Annie. The thought made him a bit nervous; Peggy was very bright, but sometimes she still seemed very young to him, and he wondered whether his parents should have pressed the headmistress to allow Peggy to start school a year early. It was probably because of the baby, he reasoned, trying to imagine his poor mother dealing with both Peggy and a new life after sending Annie and Charlie off to school each day. Drat. Now he was _thinking._ She had started to make the wheels in his head turn round, so that it was less likely he would be able to drop off again. _Drat drat drat._ "She's gonna have the baby _today,_" her voice cut through the darkness behind his eyelids. He fought the temptation to open his eyes to look at her, speaking half into his pillow. "The baby isn't due for almost two more weeks," he growled. "Go back to bed, Peggy. It isn't time to get up yet. It's Saturday morning--" "Mum's gonna have the baby--" "_Will you stop saying that?_" he screamed in frustration now, losing the battle and sitting up, his messy red hair standing wildly on end. "Shut up, Bill," Charlie muttered sleepily across the chasm between their beds. "Shut up, yourself, Chickie. I'm trying to get Peggy out of here." "Don't call me that." "_Chickie-Chickie-Chickie_." A muffled, "Sod off," came from the vicinity where Charlie's face was pressed into his pillow. "Mum's gonna have the baby," Peggy said again, still utterly composed. Bill seethed. "Annie!" he called. "Annie, come get Peggy and take her back to bed!" Through the wall he heard his other sister cry, "Do it yourself! It's my birthday!" That was Annie. Of all of them, she was the only one skilled at not being exploited. No one took advantage of Annie Weasley. She hadn't yet turned six, but she already seemed to be able to take in hand the people around her, bend them to her will, and handily avoid others bending _her_ to _their_ will. Bill had no idea how she managed it. _Yes, I do,_ he thought, as he turned his body and brought his feet crashing down onto the floor next to his bed, scooping Peggy up into his arms and carrying her on his hip back to the girls' bedroom. _She manages it because I let her. And everyone else does, too._ He put Peggy back in her cot and frowned at Annie, who was reclining in her bed with her hands behind her head, her face perfectly expressionless. "It isn't your birthday today, it's just your party today," he reminded her. Her birthday was the first day of the term, so her party was being held early. "Yeah, and Mum's going to ruin it by having the baby today," Annie told him. He groaned. "Don't you start--" "Peggy told me," she said simply. "She knows about these things. She'll be right. I don't _want_ her to be right, but she will be. You'll see." Bill looked at her with narrowed eyes. Was their little sister a Seeress? he wondered, not wanting to say this aloud. He turned and looked at her; she had curled up in her cot again, a stuffed tiger clutched to her chest, the thumb never leaving her mouth, her long red eyelashes on her pale, freckled cheeks. She looked so ordinary. She was probably just-- "_Arthur!_" he heard his mother cry out. "_Arthur!_ Go get the midwife! My water just broke!" Bill swallowed. _Mum's gonna have the baby._ Yes, she certainly was. The birthday party was canceled; five families had to be contacted to inform them of the change in plans. Then they had to be packed off to their aunt's house in Bristol while their mother worked to bring the new life into the world. Bill insisted that he should stay and help boil water or something, but the first hair-raising cry he heard wafting down the stairs made it very hard for him to argue with his father when this idea was rejected. He stepped into the warm green flames and was soon tumbling out of the fireplace at his Aunt Meg's house, glad he wouldn't have to listen to hours of his mother in agony. Ten hours later, his aunt came into the sitting room where Bill had been reading _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2._ Annie and Peggy were playing with dolls on the hearthrug and Charlie was trying to teach their aunt's English bulldog to do tricks. He glared balefully at Charlie and adamantly refused to play dead, roll over, sit up or shake hands. Charlie sighed. "All right, then," he said to the stubborn animal. "Stay there and don't move a muscle or show a facial expression! Don't do a _thing!_ Good, good dog!" Bill looked up from his book and laughed. Normally Charlie was quite adept with animals, but Aunt Meg's dog could pass for a statue most of the time. Part of the problem was that he was quite elderly. Their aunt said he would be something like two-hundred and ten years old if he were a wizard. Secretly, Bill thought Annie and the dog were kindred spirits. _No one can tell you what to do,_ he thought enviously at the dog. _If you don't want to--you don't._ "Children! I've got exciting news! You have a new little _brother_!" Aunt Meg said, clapping her hands together. "Brilliant!" Charlie said enthusiastically. "Another brother!" Annie threw a pillow at him. For once, their aunt didn't care. She was in her early thirties, but she and their Uncle Alfred had only been married for a couple of years, and didn't have any children yet. "His name is Percy," Aunt Meg went on, "and he's good and strong and--" "_Percy!_" Charlie gasped, making a dreadful face. "What'd they want to go and give him a stupid name like _that_ for? Surely it's not too late to change it?" Aunt Meg put her hands on her hips and glared at her nephew. "Charles Weasley, you will _behave_. Percy's a very nice name. Your mum told me she's been thinking that's the perfect name for the baby if it's a boy ever since she read Bill's first letter from Hogwarts." She nodded at Bill. "One of the other Gryffindor boys in his year is named Percy, and she liked the name so much, she--" "_Perry_!" Bill exploded now, throwing down his book. "I told her that the other boys in my dorm are Alex Wood, Orville Simpson, Rembert Leonard and _Perry_ Booth. It's short for Peregrin. I don't even call him by his first name, usually. Just Booth. Tell me she _hasn't_ named the baby after _Booth._" His aunt frowned at him. "Perhaps if you improved your penmanship, your mother would have known that his name was Perry and not Percy. Honestly! I needed a translator to read the thank-you note you sent for your Christmas gift. You'd think with your mother standing over you while you wrote it, it might at least be _legible,_" she added knowledgeably. "So, since you wanted to be told this--_No._ Evidently your parents _haven't_ named your new brother after Booth, as you call him, seeing as his name isn't _actually_ Percy." Bill groaned. "Aw, but she _thought_ his name was Percy." He bit back a dozen expletives which he knew would get his mouth washed out with soap. _Perry. Percy. Damn._ Alex will _never_ let me hear the end of this, Bill thought. 

Alex's mother had also had a baby that year, in early May. The baby's name was Oliver. Alex's six-year-old brother was Leander. "Notice a pattern?" he'd said sarcastically to Bill when he'd found out the new baby's name. Alex was sure to get wind of the Percy/Perry mix-up and milk it for all it was worth. 

Peggy lifted her face to her aunt, looking as she had that morning, and said, "Mummy has replaced me." Aunt Meg strode across the room and swung Peggy up onto her hip. "No, she hasn't, pumpkin. You can share your mummy with the new baby." "I _was_ her baby and now _he_ is." Aunt Meg swayed, holding the small child. "Oh, Peggy, Peggy...." she crooned, "you'll always be your mummy's baby. Everyone's always their mummy's baby...." Peggy shook her head against her aunt's shoulder, tears running down her face, her bottom lip pushed out, looking miserable. Bill bit his lip again, unable to contemplate what this must be like for her. He had no clear memory of being the one and only focus of his parents' lives, as he was so young when Charlie was born. He didn't remember not being a big brother. "Yeah, well I'm the one whose bloody birthday party was canceled," Annie interjected grumpily. "_Annie!_" Aunt Meg exclaimed, scandalized. Bill noticed, however, that that was the extent of the reaction. Annie consistently got away with things that he and Charlie didn't dare do, and saying "bloody" within the hearing of an adult who had power over them was one of them. They were permitted back in the house the following day, cautiously entering their parents' bedroom, where their mother was enthroned in the massive carved maple bed, holding a very small, red, wrinkled thing which suddenly erupted in a squall of noise when it was hungry. Their father had wanted to take the next day off, but he received an urgent owl near bedtime and it looked like he would have to go into the office after all. The next morning, his father kissed his mother goodbye and Apparated to the Ministry. From that moment on, the day was complete and utter chaos. When his father arrived home, his mother, exhausted and disheveled, confronted him in the filthy kitchen, where there wasn't a sign of tea. Peggy clung to her leg, crying, and Bill tried to pry her off, finally succeeding by falling backward and knocking his head on the kitchen table. Charlie and Annie were visible through the doorway to the living room, pulling each other's hair and growling, "_Say it_!" and "_No, you say it_!" over and over. Upstairs, baby Percy's howls finally became loud enough to be heard downstairs, and that noise started to drown out everything else. "Arthur Weasley," Molly said to him with a quaver in her voice, barely audible over the noise the children were making, "tomorrow _you_ are in charge of the children, except for Percy. If you cannot get the day off, then you'll have to take them to the office. I can probably get Meg to take them for the rest of the month after that, but--I--I--I _cannot_ take another day like this! I've had _no sleep_, Annie and Charlie are constantly at each other; Bill is at his wit's end with Peggy; she keeps trying to climb on me when I'm nursing the baby; and I _just can't take it_!" Her eyes were wild, and he patted her shoulders gently. "Of course, Molly," he said in a soothing voice, as though she were a fractious pony. "Of course I can take them off your hands. A new baby is always very demanding, you want to focus on him..." She rubbed the backs of her hands across her eyes, which had dark circles under them. "It's not that I don't love them all," she said tiredly. "I _do_. Right now it's--it's just _too much._ If Percy hadn't been early, I could cope. After the new term starts, I should be fine...." she assured her husband. 

Bill looked up at his parents from his spot on the floor; his head ached mightily, but the more alarming thing was the sight of his mother just going to pieces. He remembered his aunt saying something to his Uncle Alfred, something like, "I hope this time Molly has an easier time with the post-partum dep--" before her husband had noticed the children listening. 

He had opened his eyes wide, gesturing to the four of them and saying, "Hush! Little pitchers...." His aunt had quieted, her lips drawn very thin. Bill regarded his mother; he knew she loved them all, but, he realized, gazing round at the disorderly house and Charlie and Annie each holding fistfuls of the other's hair, sometimes it was probably hard to _like_ them. Times like this. Arthur Weasley took his wife in his arms and crooned to her, as though the baby wasn't howling at top volume, as though Charlie and Annie weren't threatening to make each other bald. "Of course, Molly," he said again. "I'm sure they'll enjoy seeing the Ministry...." Bill gave up on sleeping and sat up groggily. They had never gone to work with their father before. Bill knew it was going to be his job to keep Peggy and Annie from getting into trouble--and Charlie too, but he couldn't let on to Charlie that he was doing this. He was _not_ looking forward to dealing with a stubborn Annie and a heartbroken Peggy all day. Peggy had done almost nothing since Percy's birth but insist that he was going to replace her in their mother's heart. That wasn't how she put it, of course, but Bill could tell it was what she meant. And he had no idea when Annie was going to let go of the birthday party, but he strongly suspected she was going to be holding _that_ grudge against their mother and Percy for years to come. The sun finally rose all the way and their father entered their room, already wearing his robes, his glasses perched on the top of his head. The red hair there was just starting to thin, ever so slightly. "Come on, boys! Time to get up! Exciting doings! You get to see what old Dad does to earn a living!" Bill looked sideways at the sleepy Charlie, who appeared to be singularly unenthusiastic. "Now, er, have you seen my glasses, boys?" he said uncertainly. They told him his spectacles were on top of his head. "Ah, there they are. Good, good!" he burbled, placing them across his nose, where they belonged. Bill and Charlie looked at each other. _It was going to be one of those days._ They dressed and Bill helped the girls dress; they ate breakfast and continued to listen to their father's excited chatter about the things he would show them. "So, we'll be going by Floo to the Leaky Cauldron," he said needlessly as he spooned porridge into his mouth at the breakfast table. "You know the drill on that; you've all gone shopping with your mum. But this time, we're not going to Diagon Alley." His blue eyes twinkled at them all. "We're going to be getting the Muggle Underground to a _certain_ station." He paused tantalizingly. Charlie rolled his eyes, as did Annie. "All right, Dad," Charlie said tiredly. "Why are we going to a _certain station_?" "You'll see!" their father crowed now. Bill and Charlie looked at each other; their father was _very_ undignified when he was excited. Their mother kissed them all goodbye, still wearing her dressing gown, her hair looking like a frowzy orange mop. "Be good, all of you. And don't touch anything, especially in your father's office. Arthur, do be sure to keep any confiscated items out of reach of the children. You never know what some of those contraband articles have been enchanted to do." Their father brightened. "There you go, children! You can watch me put revealing charms on contraband Muggle artifacts, to discover all of the spells that have been put on them! Doesn't that sound exciting?" The four of them looked listlessly at each other. "Yeah, loads," Annie said, rolling her eyes. "Annabel Weasley, you behave yourself," her mother told her sternly. "I don't want to hear about any pranks. It's bad enough the number of times I had to go see the headmistress last year--" For once, Annie looked quite sheepish, but Bill wasn't certain it wasn't an act. "Yes, Mum," she said meekly. They all stepped into the fire after she had kissed each of them. Bill went last. Just as he moved toward the flames he heard Percy awake and begin that characteristic wail. His mother turned and began to climb the stairs wearily, and then she whirled out of sight as he was swept through the Floo network to London. 

* * * * *

Bill and Peggy had been through the streets of London in a taxi to get to King's Cross, and then his mother had hired another to get the three of them all the way home from London at the end of the term (since old Tom didn't want them going through the Leaky Cauldron again). But Charlie and Annie, who had never been in the Muggle part of London before, looked floored by its enormity when they stepped out onto the Muggle side for the first time in their short lives. Peggy held one of Bill's hands and Annie the other as they walked to the nearest tube station. Bill watched his father fumble with the Muggle money needed to pay their fares; the younger children stared around at the station and the crowds of people, none of whom wore robes or pointed hats. Bill fought the urge to stare as well; he hadn't been in the Underground before, either, but he didn't want to look like a country bumpkin in the big city for the first time (even though this was pretty close to the mark). When the train pulled into the station and the doors opened, Charlie exclaimed, "Cor, Dad! The doors are magic! Muggles can do magic!" "Sssh!" his father cautioned him. "Quiet, Charlie! It's done with eckeltricity, not magi--not what we use. I don't really understand how it works, but--" Bill bounced excitedly on his toes; they were the only people left on the platform. "Let's get on before it leaves, Dad!" "Oh, right, right," his father said, hustling his brood onto the train just in time for the doors to snap shut behind them. Bill watched the Muggles closely as they stopped at each station and the mix of people around them changed constantly. His father's wizarding robes earned him some curious glances, and one or two Muggles looked at each other and shrugged, saying, "Priest?" _A good thing he's not wearing his hat,_ Bill thought ruefully. For someone who adored Muggles, his dad was dreadful at passing as one, or even fully understanding the way they lived. Bill knew, for instance, that the word was _electricity._ When they pulled into Westminster station, their father hustled them off the train. Bill started to move toward the exit with his sisters in tow, but his father called his name. He turned, confused. "This way, Bill," Arthur Weasley said to his eldest son, an amused glint in his eye. Bill frowned; his father was gesturing toward a wall with a variety of theatre advertisements on it. Something called _Mousetrap_ seemed to be very popular. Muggles would watch anything, Bill had concluded long ago. "The exit's this way, Dad," he said, gesturing with his head. As the last of the Muggles who'd been on the train with them drifted away up the stairs, they were left standing on a lonely, deserted platform. His father was just hopeless sometimes. But this time his father knew something he didn't. "Not for us, it isn't." He looked furtively around. "All right, you go first, Charlie. Walk right toward that wall and don't slow down; just go straight ahead very quickly. Can you do that? Be a brave lad, there you go." Charlie frowned and glanced at Bill, who shrugged. _All right,_ his expression seemed to say. _If I wind up in hospital because my dad told me to walk into a wall, he'll get it from Mum._ The ten-year-old walked forward, swinging his arms, looking like he was fighting the urge to put his hands up to defend himself from the wall, and then he--disappeared. "All right, Bill. You take Peggy and I'll come after you with Annie. Take it at a good trot." Bill stared at the wall where his brother had disappeared. He didn't like the barrier at King's Cross that took him to the Hogwarts Express, and he didn't like the looks of this, either. He walked forward, with Peggy slightly behind him, struggling to keep up with him. At what would have been the moment of impact, he winced, but forced himself to keep moving forward-- --and found himself in a tube-like corridor made of terra cotta-colored brick. Large red-orange tiles covered the floor. It was like being in a giant sewer pipe with a flat bottom. Their father appeared in the corridor with Annie a moment after Bill went through with Peggy, and he immediately turned to the left, still holding Annie's hand. Bill, Charlie and Peggy followed them wordlessly. They walked some distance from the entry point, which did not have any particularly distinctive appearance on the magic side. Their father mumbled what sounded like a number, and Bill realized that his father had been walking looking at his feet, counting his paces. His father turned and smiled at him. "I'm used to Apparating. Had to get instructions for coming this way. Most of us come to work by Apparating, but it's good to know this way as well. If there were a lockdown, Apparition wouldn't be possible." Then he seemed to think better of talking about _lockdowns_, and looked like he wished he could snatch back his words. _In case of You-Know-Who,_ Bill thought. The summer had not seen an abatement of Death Eater activity. His parents had taken to reading the _Daily Prophet_ and then throwing it in the flames before he or his siblings could read it. Once or twice, Bill had managed to nick the paper before it was burnt, but the news was so depressing he didn't attempt this often. His father raised his wand and Bill saw that there was a slight indentation in one brick, which was the one his father tapped now with his wand. Suddenly, an archway appeared, and they followed their father through it. They were in a corridor that was identical to the first one. After a few minutes, it abruptly opened out into a large circular space that was about twenty feet in diameter, with numerous doorways around the perimeter. Bill stared at the people visible through the doorways; they didn't look quite right. He watched a wizard carrying a box with a leaping furry thing in it. When he disappeared to the right of the doorjamb, it seemed that he should have reappeared in the doorway that was a mere six inches or so to its right. However, an old bald wizard, as wrinkled as a rhino, moved toward the wizard with the furry leaping thing, and it appeared that they would collide. He too disappeared, and did not reappear in the doorway where Bill had seen the first wizard, although it seemed that he should. Then Bill noticed that there were labels on the doorways. COEC, IUMO, DMGS, DIMC, DRCMC, and DMT were some of the legends. His father explained that the abbreviations were for Committee on Experiment Charms, Improper Use of Magic Office, Department of Magical Games and Sports, Department of International Magical Cooperation, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and the Department of Magical Transportation. They also saw the doorways for the Goblin Liaison Office, the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad and the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, where their father worked. Bill frowned at the doorways, trying to work out just what was wrong. The people walking past them appeared suddenly, then disappeared just as suddenly. His father saw his perplexed look. "You want to know, don't you son?" His dad didn't have to say more than that. Bill nodded. "These are portals," Arthur Weasley said, smiling. "When you walk through one of these doorways, you are in the actual location of the office on the other side. The portals are all really here, but the offices are spread out over the entire London Underground system." "The Underground?" "During the war, the Muggle War Office used old Tube stations as military offices. They used stations that had already fallen into disuse. I remember my dad said they used them as air-raid shelters, when the need arose. Worked very well for that. I was sent up north during the war, of course, with the rest of the children, and Muggle children, too. Can you imagine it? Just about every child in the country, Muggle or wizard, packed off to the country. After the war, our Ministry made a deal with the Muggle Prime Minister to take over the old Underground Offices. They can't be accessed by Muggles anymore; you can only get to them if you can Apparate or know how to get into here from Westminster Station. Except for Aldwych, but I won't go into that right now. It's much more convenient to use the portals than to Apparate around from office to office, which you can't do anyway if you're with a suspect." Two of the portals were not like the others. One did not show an office with people bustling about; it was just a black rectangle, with no sign. The other didn't look like a portal at all. It was another rounded corridor, brick covering every surface, like the passage from which they'd emerged. His father saw Bill looking at the dark doorway. "Unspeakables," he said in a hushed voice. "Department of Mysteries. They can get out, but no one else can go in. Except I've never actually seen anyone come out of there..." Peggy stood staring at the black rectangle, her brow furrowed. She seemed to be _listening_ intently. "Let me show you something else before we go to my office," he said, taking his youngest daughter's hand and dragging her down the pipe-like brick corridor, which slanted subtly downward. Bill and the others followed, and after it turned a few times, the round room with the office portals was no longer visible behind them. There were more than a few that their father hadn't explained, but Bill didn't question him as they continued on their way. After a few minutes, the corridor came to an end. They were confronted with a large bronze door with "MoM" in raised, ornately intertwined pewter letters. Their father said something Bill didn't catch, and the door swung toward them. They entered and found themselves in another corridor, rectilinear now rather than rounded; Bill thought it looked remarkably like the corridors in the dungeons at Hogwarts. They all continued to follow their father. They turned another corner and came to another large bronze door. Their father pointed his wand at it and said, "_Alohomora!_" The heavy-looking bronze door opened and they entered. They were at the top of a room that was a kind of pit; serried rows of benches dropped off before them, rather like a square funnel, Bill thought. There was a flat, open space in the center. A chair sat in the middle of that open space, chains around the back and legs, leading Bill to believe that it was _not_ reserved for the Minister of Magic. "Do you know where this is?" their father asked. "What do you mean?" Charlie asked back. "What's above this? Above where we're standing. Do you know?" All four children shook their heads dumbly. "Parliament." He grinned at the shock on their faces. "Hasn't Professor Binns covered this with you, Bill?" Bill had barely squeaked through his exam in History of Magic; he could never stay awake during the lectures. He avoided his father's gaze. "What was London called in Roman times?" Bill thought, biting his lip. He thought he knew this one, but his answer was very uncertain-sounding. "Londinium?" His father nodded. "Right. Good. And do you know how long this chamber has been here?" He didn't wait for an answer this time. "A very, very long time. Since _before_ there was ever a place called Londinium. Before there was a Parliament, or a Prime Minister." "Before kings and queens?" Peggy piped up, the thumb in her mouth making her words a little muffled. "Actually, no, Peggy. But it was before there was one king or queen who ruled all of Great Britain. Before there was a Great Britain, for that matter. This has been here since the days when there were many kings and queens on this island, ruling over many realms. In some places there were people called chiefs instead of kings or queens. Not just up in Scotland. And do you know what else there was?" Bill frowned and shook his head. His father sighed and looked around. "There was _magic,_" he said softly, his voice wistful. "I don't mean that we don't have magic now, of course. I mean that no one had to _hide_ their magic. Wizards and Muggles lived side by side and no one worried about what would happen if a Muggle saw a spell being performed or a potion being brewed. Magical people were some of the most important in each village, in fact, and they could make a good living telling fortunes and providing elixirs for illnesses and giving people good luck charms for their new houses or as baby gifts...." He sighed again. "It was a golden age, when the walls we have today between wizard and Muggle didn't exist, and it didn't matter." "What happened?" Annie asked. He sighed. "The Romans happened. Julius Caesar invaded Britain--when Charlie?" his father asked him suddenly. "Er--"Charlie hesitated. "Bill?" Bill bit his lip. "In 55 B.C.?" he said slowly, uncertainly. "Right!" his father said, grinning. Bill heaved a sigh of relief; Charlie didn't seem to mind that his brother had answered for him. "Rome had already been expelling witches and wizards--usually astrologers--for almost a hundred years," their father went on. "The invaders brought their anti-magic sentiments with them. Here, as in Rome, consulting a diviner or being a diviner--especially if you were talking about the fate of the Emperor or the state--was considered treasonous." Bill glanced at Peggy, wondering whether she was listening. He saw Annie look at Peggy, too, as though her thoughts were the same as Bill's. Peggy was humming and skipping up and down the serried rows of benches, having a grand time, as though this chamber had _really_ been built for three-year-olds to get their exercise. She seemed utterly carefree for the first time since the baby was born, as though everything their father was saying was completely over her head--which it might have been. Suddenly Annie dropped her grim, serious look and became a typical not-quite-six-year-old again, joining her sister in the game of skipping up and down the rows of benches. Charlie looked like he wanted to join them; he was nibbling at his nails, clearly getting restless. 

Bill turned back to his father. He raised his voice to be heard above the racket of the girls leaping from bench to bench. "Treasonous?" he asked, perplexed. Arthur Weasley laughed. 

"Yes. Asking about the Emperor's fortune was considered treason because you might be a political rival, you see. And if the Emperor asked _you_ to tell his fortune and you predicted his death, or the city falling to an invading army, it was also treason. Even if you were just reading the signs. Talk about being the bearer of bad news....Which means they didn't _really_ want to know what was going to happen, of course. And a wife who used certain, er, magic potions without her husband's authorization could be killed, as well as the person who brewed the potion for her. Love potions were a witch's or wizard's biggest trade, usually, but they were completely illegal. In spite of this, Emperors were having potions made for them all the time, and Tiberius also had a court astrologer, Thrasyllus, who was considered the power behind the throne. As Emperor, he could follow the law or break it as he saw fit. Mostly, wizards and witches who told fortunes or made potions used magic to escape persecution or just accepted exile from Rome. Four thousand magical folk left Rome under Tiberius. "And then there was Caligula. He declared himself a deity and demanded to be worshipped. In Judea, in particular, people flatly refused, as it went against their religion. Many wizards, being rather independent-minded, didn't buy into it either. Luckily, Caligula got himself killed, and the Judeans were safe for a little while longer. But it was only about thirty years longer. And then there was Nero, who decided to blame Christians for Rome burning, as many people were pointing the finger at _him._ Most people didn't believe they were responsible, and wizards and witches worked at rescuing as many of them as possible, although many still died rather gruesomely." Charlie whispered, "How?" His father raised his eyebrows. "Well, they were accused of burning Rome, so Nero--" He didn't finish. Charlie got his meaning and swallowed. "Oh," he said softly. His father smiled grimly and patted him on the shoulder. "In those days, since witches and wizards were considered highly suspect because they could tell fortunes--which could include foretelling death for the Emperor--and concoct powerful potions--which could be used to poison the Emperor--they were rather sympathetic toward other groups that were accused of treason just because they wouldn't worship the Emperor. When witches and wizards were arrested on witchcraft charges, they didn't just use their magic to get themselves out of prison--they also freed any other prisoners who were in similar situations, like Judean zealots, and later, Christians, both of whom would sometimes refuse to go, even when the prison doors were wide open. They had already decided to be martyrs." Bill frowned. "Why would anyone die who didn't have to?" But then he remembered that James Potter's parents had died fighting to save others, and that they might have known they were doomed, and kept on anyway. His father grimaced and looked at him. "It's a choice some people make, Bill," he said quietly, and Bill was startled by the look in his father's eyes; he knew with certainty that if he needed to lay his life down for any of his children or for their mother, Arthur Weasley would do it without question. "Well," his father went on, "just a handful of years after Rome burned, the Empire finally succeeded in putting down the rebellion that had been going on for years in Judea. That's been causing trouble for almost two-thousand years now, although ever since I went up north when I was young, Muggle war news depresses me dreadfully, and I avoid it when I can.... "The law of Rome had been the law of the land here in Britain since Julius Caesar had invaded, even though there were plenty of rebellious people here who didn't like it. Technically, this was as much a part of the Empire as Rome itself, even though it was so far away. Whenever a Governor came into power who was more stringent about the anti-magic laws, wizards would move away from Londinium to the countryside, except for those who lived in Diagon Alley, which had been sealed off from the Muggle world after the invasion. Hidden by magic, some of them stayed here in the heart of the city, away from the prying eyes of the Romans." He looked thoughtfully around the chamber. "After the Empire fell, now and then over the years, there were times when we had rulers who made it safe for magical folk to come out of hiding again. Do you know who one of them was?" He raised his eyebrows meaningfully at Bill, who was glad he knew this one. "Arthur," he said with certainty. "Yes, Arthur!" his father crowed; then, as though they didn't know their own father's name, he said, "My name!" Annie happened to be skipping along a bench right next to them now; as she passed, she rolled her eyes. "And then what, Dad?" Charlie asked, genuinely wanting to know. Their father didn't notice him giving Annie a sharp pinch on the arm. She winced, but seemed determined not to cry out in pain. She ground her right foot into Charlie's left foot as their father stared at the ceiling, oblivious. "Ah, well, after Arthur died, it was a dark time. There were Viking invasions. It was a very difficult time. And then there were the Inquisitions. No one cared about what Merlin meant to King Arthur. No one seemed to remember that wizards used to break the Christians out of prison when they were arrested by the Romans. The church started cracking down on magic, calling it heresy, and witches and wizards were called heretics even though many magical folk _were_ Christians. A number of _clergy_ were wizards as well, and there were entire orders of monks and nuns made up of wizards and witches. It didn't matter. They were branded as apostates and drummed out of the church, and sometimes hounded out of their homes and their villages." "Couldn't they use magic to fight back?" Annie asked, surprising Bill. He hadn't thought she was paying attention. Now she was standing on a bench a couple of rows down from them, trying to balance on one foot without falling over. Peggy was lounging in the chair at the bottom that was draped in chains; she was panting, out of breath. "Ah, but they didn't want to hurt the Muggles. Some of them used magic to escape, but it was a point of pride among magical folk that Muggles were never to be hurt. If a Muggle wanted to hire you to put a terrible spell on someone else, that was a dreadful crime among our kind. I think after living peacefully with Muggles for so long, after Rome fell, it seemed unbelievable that they were no longer considered quite _human._ "Witches and wizards who were taken into custody tried to reason with their friends and neighbors. You see, they _knew_ the people persecuting them. They weren't faceless Roman soldiers whom they'd never seen before. They weren't strangers. But suddenly, magical people weren't to be tolerated. You asked about why someone would choose to be a martyr, Bill. Well, many of our kind allowed themselves to be martyred rather than harm a hair on the head of a Muggle or use magic to escape. It was later, during other witch-hunting frenzies of the Middle Ages, after the Crusades, that witches and wizards used magic, as they did under the Romans, or did things like putting freezing charms on the flames when they were burned at the stake." He sighed noisily again. "They were convinced that their neighbors and friends couldn't _possibly_ just stand there and watch them die, cheering it on, even. But they did exactly that." "And then Hogwarts was founded--" Bill said softly. His father nodded. "Yes. And because of the Inquisitions, Salazar Slytherin didn't want Muggle-born students at the school. I think he may have lost some family members to the purges, but we don't really know. The exact reason for his feeling that way is lost to time now. There were rumors that he went to France after his falling out with the other three founders, but that's another thing we don't know for sure." They went back to their father's office, the girls dragging their feet; they'd enjoyed romping about. They met his co-workers, and Bill could tell that the three younger children were itching to touch some of the confiscated items in the storeroom while their father wrote letters to people about the objects they had charmed. (He was feeling a little tempted himself, and wondered whether this was ever a problem for his father.) Bill glanced at one of the letters when his father had finished it and was busily writing a new one. _Dear Mr. Tansy, On behalf of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, I would like to apologize for our having had to confiscate your bicycle. I appreciate that you were taking your dog to the vet for an emergency (I will give you the benefit of the doubt that it is a dog, as Dangerous Creatures is another department), but your neighbor, a respected Muggle history teacher, had an unobstructed view of this activity, which is in violation of the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy. It's too bad he wasn't a journalist, as no one would believe what he'd seen if he'd told. And you're very lucky he's not a bookmaker. Everyone believes every word they say. The bicycle will be returned to you after we have removed all charms from it. To aid us in our work, if you could owl us with the specific spells you have placed on it, that would be very helpful. So far we are, of course, aware of the flying spell (which, by law, can only be placed on brooms, and then only by licensed broom manufacturers). We assume there is a braking charm, as well, but we are uncertain whether it is a spell on the entire bicycle, much as a braking charm on a broom, or whether it goes into effect when one presses the lever to activate the Muggle brake. We have many artifacts to process every day and rather than spending hours and hours stripping down your bicycle, your cooperation would make our job much easier. (And your bicycle will be returned to you more quickly.) I do hope your neighbor is doing well after the Obliviators put that memory charm on him, and I hope he hasn't forgotten too much of the history he teaches. (The Obliviator only had time to talk to him about the fall of the Roman Empire through the Magna Carta.) Once you have changed to transporting yourself by broom, I trust you will restrict yourself to flying at night? I do not believe more memory charms would be in your neighbor's best interest, as the entire Middle Ages might fall out of his head if he gets another one. I look forward to hearing from you soon, Arthur Weasley  
Misuse of Muggle Artifacts  
Ministry of Magic_  
Bill frowned. "Letting him off rather light, aren't you? And asking him to help you? What if he just tells you to sod--er, what if he says no?" Arthur Weasley sighed. "Almost all of them do. I hate to say it, but it's usually the ones who aren't very bright who cooperate. So we do wind up having to strip down most things ourselves, but in case someone really is interested in saving us the trouble, we reckon it can't hurt to ask." Bill carefully placed the letter back on his father's pile and the four children sat on chairs around the perimeter of the room, swinging their legs impatiently. After a little while, their father looked up, saw how restless they were, and said, "Listen, Bill. Why don't you take Charlie and the girls to the commissary for a little something? Here, I'll draw you directions..." Bill and his brother and sisters left the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office, Bill in the lead, carrying the parchment his father had handed him and squinting at his father's tiny handwriting. When they arrived, they discovered that it was empty except for a plump young witch who was putting cleaning charms on the tables and an old grizzled wizard who sat in the corner reading the _Daily Prophet_ and pouring something from a hip flask into a cup of steaming hot tea. The four of them sat at a table well away from the old wizard, looking around carefully, and wondering how they were going to get food. After a few minutes, the witch saw that they were floundering, and she came to them and explained the system. They rose and went to get plates from a central table, and when they returned to where they'd been sitting, each of them addressed his or her plate to order. "_Bread pudding with caramel sauce_," Charlie promptly said to his plate. "_Spotted dick_," Annie told her plate imperiously. "What do you want, Peggy?" Bill asked her, unsure whether he should let her order on her own. "_Turkish delight_," she said clearly to her plate, ignoring him. Bill shrugged, deciding to go along. "_Trifle_," he said to his plate. Their mother would have a fit if she knew about the amount of sugar they were consuming before lunch, but their mother wasn't here. They seldom had much in the way of sweets at home; puddings they had, after tea, and they had a little bit of pocket money they could use on sweets when they went to Diagon Alley. But they never had sweets this early in the day. "Bill, we're going to need some flannels to clean up," Peggy said to him at one point; her words were a little garbled, as she was chewing. Bill frowned. "To clean up what? They have people here who do that, or house-elves or something." "But we're going to need the flannels to clean up when Charlie spills his pumpkin juice." Bill laughed. "Don't have much faith in him, do you?" But a moment later, Charlie had knocked his arm into his goblet and spilled pumpkin juice down the middle of the table, necessitating some scrambling out of the way. Charlie frowned at Peggy. "You jinxed me! If you hadn't said--" "She just _knew_, Chickie," Annie broke in. Charlie growled at her. "Don't call me that!" "Watch out, Annie--" Peggy started to say as Charlie reached out for a handful of his sister's hair. "You could have told me sooner!" Annie complained, as her voice rose to a shriek. "Shut up!" Bill commanded them all. "You," he said, speaking to Charlie, "clean up your mess. _You_," he said to the girls, "take your food and eat at that table there. I don't want to hear _one more sound_ from any of you while we're in here, understand?" They stared at him for a second, as though they'd never seen him before. Charlie slowly took his hands from Annie's head and went to look for a flannel to clean the table. Soon they were all sitting and eating quietly again. When they had all finished except for Charlie, they rose to go. Bill took Peggy's and Annie's hands. "Coming, Charlie?" Charlie looked up at him in bliss, his brown eyes looking slightly glazed-over, his mouth full. "Naw. Oo go. I'll ee dere zood." Bill frowned at him. "_I'll be there soon,_" Annie said, translating, an impatient edge to her voice. Bill nodded and turned to go. In the corridor, he said to Annie, "You'd better behave yourself in school this year, Annie. You've got to set an example for Peggy, and Mum will have enough to do with the new baby without you getting called up on the carpet all the time." She bristled. "I _was_ good last year." He held her hand more tightly. "Not as good as you could have or should have been. I mean, that time you put those salamanders in Charlie's lunch--" "That bloody sod grassed on me!" she exclaimed. Bill stopped, shocked. "Annie Weasley! You watch your mouth! Mum will be mortified if the headmistress hears you talking like that! _That's_ the sort of thing I mean. No more bad language, and no more pranks. You're only _six_--or you will be in a week. What are you going to be getting up to when you're at Hogwarts?" As they strode through the corridors, the girls having to struggle to keep up with Bill's long impatient strides, Annie had a wicked little grin on her face. "You'll see...." Charlie, in the meantime, had finished his pudding and sat back, patting his little round tummy contentedly and sighing. The witch had gone and the old wizard had stopped reading his newspaper. Charlie was suddenly aware that the old man was scrutinizing _him._ He swallowed, wondering how to leave without it looking like he was running from the man. Instead, the old wizard rose from his seat and began to walk across the room, a loud _clunking_ noise being made on every other step. He stopped at Charlie's table and peered down at him, his beady black eyes very sharp and critical-looking. His grey mane of hair hung partly in his face, his hands were gnarled, and his cheeks were fissured with too many lines to count. Charlie swallowed. Then, the man's face suddenly broke into a smile. Broke was the most appropriate word, in Charlie's opinion, as it caused something like a gash to cut across the man's face. "Hello, there, laddie. Don't have to ask whose bairn _you_ are, do I?" Charlie didn't reply, as he wasn't certain what the man was talking about. "A Weasley, right?" Oh, Charlie thought, understanding now. "Yes, sir," he responded, barely audible. "I'm a Weasley." The old man nodded. "Speak up when you say that. Be _proud_ of it, lad." "All right," Charlie answered, still whispering. "I--I will." Charlie dared to stand now; his knees were knocking together. He didn't know who this old wizard was, but he evidently knew his dad and liked him, so that was a good thing, he thought. _Right?_ "I--I should be getting back to the others," he said feebly, his voice still very soft. The old man nodded. "You tell your dad hello from Alastor. I'd come to see him, but we'd end up talking for an hour or two, and I have an appointment elsewhere. Which one are you?" "Which one?" "The eldest? Next eldest?" "Oh. I'm--I'm Charlie. Bill is the eldest." He nodded his grey head. "Right, right. Well, you'll be going to Hogwarts soon, then?" "Not--not until next September." "That's fine. You'll do all right, lad. Don't fret. There's plenty I want to be terrified when they meet me, but you're not one of them. You've no cause to fear an Auror at your age, I hope." _Oh,_ he thought. _That explains it. He's an Auror._ Charlie swallowed, meaning to sidle toward the door, but suddenly, his attention was caught by the carved wooden foot he saw peeking out from under the old man's robes. He looked up at the weather-beaten face. "Please, sir--do you have that because--because you're an Auror?" Then he wished he hadn't asked; it probably wasn't quite polite to ask people about why they needed wooden legs. "This?" the old man said, knocking on the wood loudly with his knuckles. "Nah. I got that in the Great War. Place called Gallipoli. Do you want some sound advice, lad?" Charlie was starting to feel braver and nodded at the wizened Auror. "If anyone ever tells you to run flat-out at people firing machine guns while you're holding nothing but a bayonet--don't bother with your wand. Just run like hell in the opposite direction. Or tell'em to go to hell." Charlie frowned now, not quite understanding this. But he said, "Um--all right--" The old wizard laughed now, slapping Charlie on the back. "There's a good lad. Always know when to humor your elders, eh? Also not a bad piece of advice." The Auror was rather alarming when he laughed. He kept his hand on Charlie's shoulder and they walked out of the commissary together. Charlie was relieved to see that the old man was turning in the opposite direction from him. "Ta, lad," he said before he left. "Don't forget to tell your dad hello for me, and congratulations on the new Weasley. I have a wee gift for the bairn I'm sending along soon. You be good for your mum and don't make any trouble, mind." "Yes, sir," Charlie said, less numb with fright, but not completely fearless, remembering that the Auror had seen him fighting with his sister. Would he tell? Somehow he thought not. The Auror clumped down the corridor and turned a corner, disappearing from sight. Charlie turned and ran back to his father's office, hoping he was remembering all of the turns correctly. He was panting when he arrived; his father was showing Bill and his sisters an enchanted doorbell that evidently spewed insults at people the owner didn't like. "Not at _all_ inconspicuous," their father complained. "And _salesmen_. The things it said to _them._ Even the postman, asking whether he had late-notices. The fellow did quite a lot of business with Muggles and was often late paying his bills, so the postman was evidently bringing a lot of notices of that sort. The bell was telling the postman to put the bills in--well, a rather inaccessible part of his anatomy," he said, clearing his throat, remembering he was speaking to children. They all looked up in surprise when Charlie arrived, panting, in the doorway. His father looked concerned. "Charlie! Are you all right?" Charlie grimaced, unsure of how to tell his father that his friend had been rather frightening. "Er, yeah. I saw--I mean, I met a friend of yours. An Auror." His father brightened. "Oh, really? Which one?" "He--he said his name was Alastor." "Oh, yes. Moody. Well; I'm not surprised you look like that after meeting _him._" He chuckled, but stopped quickly, seeing that his son didn't think it was at all funny. "He couldn't stop by?" "No. He said he had an appointment." Charlie was feeling calmer and more collected now. "He also said congratulations on the new baby and he'd be sending a gift soon." Arthur Weasley laughed. "Yes, I daresay he will. It will probably be another Dark Detector of some sort. He has them all over his place. You should see it. He's always afraid someone's going to ambush him in his own home. He even has his dustbins set to spray rubbish on anyone messing about outside his house." He chuckled again. "No one else would be able to get away with that. And there were a couple of times when he nearly didn't. But you know how it is; in these times, no one wants to be hard on an Auror, especially one like Moody who's brought in so many dark wizards. It really should be interesting to see what he sends us; you should see some of the things he sent when you and the others were born," he added, nodding at Bill and the girls. Bill frowned. "Why don't we use them?" "Hmm?" his father asked, sitting at his desk again and pulling a stack of work toward him. "Why? Well, most of them aren't really very useful on a daily basis. Well--one thing might be, come to think of it. He sent it when you were born, with instructions for adding to it as each additional child came along...." "What?" Bill wanted to know. His father shrugged. "It's just a clock. Although it isn't, really. It shows where the people in a household are, rather than telling the time. It's not really a Dark Detector, per se, but it could be useful, I suppose, if we brought it down out of the attic and dusted it off. I've been scared to death of having Moody over at the house because I'll have to bring that thing downstairs first. If he ever suspected we weren't using it, he'd accuse us of relaxing our ever-present CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he barked in a gruff voice very unlike their father, making them all jump. He cackled with glee afterward. "Moody's got a bit of a reputation for being paranoid, in case you couldn't tell. Good bloke though. As I said, one of our finest Aurors." Bill sighed, looking at Charlie, wishing _he'd_ met Moody-the-Auror. _But nothing interesting ever happens to me,_ he thought wistfully, staring at the pile of work his father had to plow through. _I bet I'll wind up just like my dad, in a dead-end job with no possibility for advancement and too many mouths to feed._ He sank his chin into his hands and settled down to wait for the long, long day to end. 

* * * * *

_Thursday, 1 October, 1976_ Lily watched Severus Snape while they worked in Potions class. She was having a very hard time forgetting a prank that Sirius had played on Severus not long after the new term had begun. _Should I worry?_ she wondered. Sometimes her fears seemed silly, sometimes not. She had to wonder whether Sirius was really antagonistic about her spending time with Severus because he was jealous, or because he genuinely thought Lily was in danger. The prank had occurred at dinner on the third Sunday of the term. It had started out as a wonderful end to a beautiful day, a golden autumn Sunday, when most of the students had gone out of doors to revel in the beautiful weather, flying their broomsticks, practicing Quidditch, or just lounging by the lake. At the evening meal, the ceiling of the Great Hall was a deep sapphire blue, with a crescent moon visible amid a crowd of stars. Lily had been sitting next to Cecilia at the Gryffindor table, James across from them. Lily remembered it very clearly: James, his prefect badge glittering on his robes, was laughing at something Sirius, who was seated next to him, was saying. There was a cheerful hubbub of conversation in the hall. Remus was sitting on James' other side. She tried not to stare at him; she had just been with him a week earlier, after telling herself she wasn't going to let this happen again. She felt weak, like the world's worst person. Remus, as usual, had seemed oblivious to her inner turmoil. Now he leaned over his plate, shoveling in his food as though worried someone would snatch it from him any moment. _He always eats that way,_ she reminded herself, and it occurred to her to wonder whether he usually had enough to eat at home. She was more and more aware of Peter Pettigrew's crush on her; he was sitting next to her, as he usually did. Sometimes he made her very nervous. She would turn a corner in the castle and find him there, as though he'd been following her. She hoped James would never lend his Invisibility Cloak to Peter. She shuddered at the idea of him sneaking into the girls' dorms.... Lily studiously ignored Peter, listening to Cecilia instead, laughing at something she knew was meant to be funny, hoping Cecilia wouldn't actually ask her what she'd said. She glanced furtively over at the Slytherin table while Cecilia continued talking. Severus Snape was eating with his head down, not talking to anyone around him. She swallowed, looking at him. _Sometimes he just seemed to emanate loneliness...._ Severus jerked his head up suddenly and glared at another Slytherin boy, whose hawk-nose was more pronounced than his. Lily could tell the boy had said something Severus didn't like. Then she saw that Sirius had risen and was creeping toward the Slytherin table with a goblet in one hand and something vaguely spherical and bulky in his other. Severus' back stiffened, as though he had a vague awareness that someone was looking at the back of his head. She looked uncertainly at Remus, who was leaning around James Potter's in order to have a better view of what Sirius was doing. She saw him turn to James briefly, grinning, before going back to watching Sirius. At that moment, she felt like she didn't like her friends very much at all, even though she was still hopelessly in love with Remus. _Just because you love someone_, she reminded herself, _doesn't mean it's easy to _like_ them always._ When Sirius reached the Slytherin table, he tapped Severus Snape on the shoulder. He whirled around, as though expecting it, and Lily saw Sirius discreetly hand the goblet and round item to the boy sitting next to Severus, who switched Severus' goblet for the one Sirius had brought and placed the round item in the middle of Severus' dinner plate. _Even the Slytherins are in on it,_ she thought indignantly, wondering what exactly was going on, and feeling helpless to stop it. "What?" Severus barked at Sirius, turning away from his plate. The sound carried across the room, above the rest of the conversation. There was a brief lull, then the students went right on. "What what?" Lily heard Sirius say, looking like he was trying not to laugh. Severus glowered at him, then turned back to his dinner. When he saw the thing on his plate (Lily couldn't tell what it was from across the room), he pushed it away from him in a panic, banging it into his goblet. Nervously, he picked up the goblet and gulped, but lowered it almost immediately and spit out the contents. Lily saw something red splatter on the tablecloth and his robes, and on the people on either side of him. "Eeeew--" some Slytherin girls complained. Severus turned angrily to Sirius. _Was that blood on his teeth and around his mouth?_ Lily wondered. Blood. _Sirius had given him a goblet of blood_. When she realized this, she gripped her fork fiercely, having an incredible urge to stab Sirius Black with it. Sirius was back at the Gryffindor table now, laughing with Remus. She felt like stabbing him, too. Peter Pettigrew tried to be a part of their joke, laughing along, but he was largely ignored by the other boys. She turned and glared at him, and he cowered under her gimlet eye. James Potter glanced over at the Slytherin table; when he looked back at Lily, he seemed distinctly uncomfortable. Lily had to try very hard _not_ to run to Severus and comfort him. It was equally difficult to resist putting a hex on Sirius Black. "Are you all right, Lily?" James asked her suddenly, looking concerned. "Why did he do that?" she demanded, as though Sirius weren't standing right there. "_How_ could you do that?" she said, addressing Sirius now, although she suspected it was the old vampire rumor rearing its ugly head again. "Why are you defending _him_?" Sirius wanted to know, glancing at Remus briefly out of the corner of his eye. Remus had sobered and was looking as cowed under her gaze as Peter, so she glowered at James instead, as she didn't want to look at Sirius. But James glared back. "Don't look at _me._ I had nothing to do with this." "Oh, washing your hands, are you? And I suppose you've _never_ had anything to do with _anything_ that's happened to Severus?" she said testily. He looked uncomfortable at that, turning to look again at the Slytherin table. When he turned back he was frowning. Suddenly, Professor McGonagall was standing next to Sirius. Lily could see that Dumbledore was standing over Severus, his hand on his shoulder. "Black," McGonagall said imperiously. "Come with me. We have a detention to discuss," she said, her mouth very thin. "And _proper conduct at meals,_" she added, each syllable very crisp. Lily felt very grumpy; Sirius didn't even look a _little_ remorseful as McGonagall led him away. He seemed to think a detention was worth having played the prank. As Lily worked by Severus' side all though Potions class, she thought about the goblet of blood. _Why would Sirius do that?_ she thought. _Because he's an insufferable git, that's why,_ her brain answered. _And because everyone thinks he's a vampire._ She looked at Severus' pale, pale skin, watched his dark eyes move over the potions ingredients. She had crossed the Great Hall after dinner on the night of the prank and had discovered the largest head of garlic she'd ever seen sitting on Severus' plate. _Why should he fear garlic_? And then she remembered that he had to put a salve on his skin to be able to go sailing, and he had also mentioned that he and his uncle preferred cloudy weather for sailing. She _had_ thought the vampire nonsense was exactly that, but now she wasn't so sure....What if he really _was_ a vampire? It was this question, and the possible answer, that made her especially nervous. _Oh, you're being stupid,_ she tried to tell herself. _It's just a silly rumor. It couldn't be._ Still, when he asked her to stay to help him after the class was over, she hesitated, thinking of the goblet of blood, thinking of the enormous head of garlic. "I--I need to get some notes from--from James. Maybe another time?" she said nervously. He looked very disappointed, and started packing up his things. "Oh. Well, if you can't stay, then I'll wait until a day that you can." He sounded forlorn, and she felt like a heel as she bolted after James and the others. But in the corridor, she found none of the Gryffindor boys. Sirius, Remus, Peter and James had just left moments before, and now only the other Slytherins were there, moving toward their common room (she assumed) while Cecilia, Moira and Myra moved in the opposite direction, toward the stairs to the entrance hall. As she stood in the corridor, contemplating the absence of the boys and biting her lip, Severus came up behind her, startling her. His steps were very quiet. "What's wrong? I thought you had to--" "No," she answered nervously. "There's been a change of plan. Do you still want to work on a potion?" She tried not to be silly about this. She'd worked alone with him countless times in the dungeons; why should anything be different now that Sirius had played a woefully tasteless prank on Severus? And yet--it was. A little. Lily looked up at him, standing next to her at the work table. He seemed so much more mature since the new term had started. They had both performed well on their O.W.L.s, and he credited her with helping him do as well as he did in Potions. She was surprised he had asked her to stay to help him today, though, as Slytherin had a Quidditch match coming up soon against Hufflepuff, and he had been down on the pitch every afternoon between the end of classes and when dinner was served, to get in some practice before dark. Severus was the Keeper for the Slytherin team. While they waited for the potion to brew, they talked. Lily made sure she listened attentively as well as contributing to the conversation, and she found that he was opening up more and more--only to retreat and withdraw before she could delve too deeply into his psyche, his innermost thoughts, his desires and ambitions. There were times when he smiled at her and she thought, _Yes. It will be different with Severus..._ Other times she thought, _Same old story...._ They had corresponded frequently during the summer, but his letters had always been very stiff and formal, very revealing about his day-to-day activities, very unrevealing about his inner life. She wondered for the millionth time what he was hiding. Finally, it seemed that the potion was almost ready. Lily leaned over his potions text, reading. "You know, Severus, you didn't tell me why you wanted to make Eutharsos Potion, or what it was for--" Severus suddenly panicked and grabbed the book from her, putting it on the side of the cauldron away from her. "It--it doesn't matter, does it?" his voice shook. "Thank you for your help. I would've botched it, most likely. Where are--your friends?" "They're--off doing things they don't want me to know about." She assumed that they had managed to disappear quickly after class by using that map Remus had shown her. She sighed. "For the past year--" she began, then looked up at him, shook herself. She wasn't going to dwell on how they seemed to be purposefully excluding her, whispering amongst themselves, disappearing mysteriously....Remus being distant with her except when he 'needed' her was only a part of it, really. She changed the subject back to the potion. "Actually, if you'd have boiled anything but the roots, you certainly would botched it up. But you still haven't let me read what it's for--" She reached for the closed book he'd set down just as he poured the potion into a beaker, straining it through cheesecloth. Lily was still paging through the book, searching for the right potion recipe. Severus stared uncertainly at the murky concoction and then drank it all down, just as Lily cried, "Aha! Here it is..." But as she read, Severus Snape began to feel rather peculiar. Each individual part of his body seemed to go to sleep, then wake up again. He looked at Lily; he could see deep into her clear green eyes, and each strand of hair on her head. Why, he thought, they aren't all red. That one is gold, and that one copper....He was seeing everything with a clarity he'd never experienced before. Lily stared at him. His eyes looked a bit glassy; then he shook himself and his eyes looked closer to normal again. She realized that the potion had probably taken effect. She turned to the book again, still trying to figure out what he'd taken. Finally, she found the right entry. "_Eutharsos Potion_," she read, "_is brewed from the root of _Eupatorium fistulosum_, a common weed that grows to a height of seven feet. Over three-thousand years old, Eutharsos Potion increases a person's courage and makes him feel safe whether he is or not. One of the most common fears is speaking to large groups; Eutharsos Potion has proved very effective as a method of assisting people with this fear...._" Severus saw that she was frowning as she read, a vertical line developing between her brows. Still looking down at the book, she said, "I still don't see why you need to..." But Severus Snape was feeling very different, very daring. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. He looked extremely determined, and his eyes burned into hers. "Lily," he said in a firm voice, no longer shaking. "I have to tell you something." He pulled her closer to him; she looked up at him, perplexed. "I love you," he said suddenly, and lowered his mouth to hers. Lily couldn't move; she was frozen, unresponsive at first. It was starting to feel like Sirius all over again. _No,_ she thought. _I don't want it to be like that._ She had waited for so long for Remus to say that to her, especially in the throes of passion, but she'd never heard the words pass his lips. She thought, _I should probably say it back to Severus._ But did she feel the same way? She liked him a good deal, and she was attracted to him, but did she _love_ him? And then she thought of the description of the potion in the book, but she tried to push this to the back of her mind as she slid her hands up around his neck. _I like Severus_, she reminded herself. _I've wondered what it would be like to kiss him, and here it is, happening..._ He pulled her closer and she decided to open her mouth under his. He seemed momentarily startled, then clutched at her, and the fevered nature of the kiss increased. _This is how it's supposed to be,_ she thought. _No furtive groping on the common room floor late at night, or frenzied coupling in an old dungeon storage room...._ He was actually a very good kisser, and she felt her pulse quicken. Lily wanted to cry for joy--and then she wanted to cry for a different reason. No matter how hard she tried, she found that she just could _not_ forget the potions text. And there was Sirius' prank to consider. This situation was an improvement over Remus, but it still had its problems. _Eutharsos Potion increases a person's courage and makes him feel safe whether he is or not...._ _He needed to take a potion to approach me,_ she thought, feeling less sure that she wanted to be kissing him. The more she thought about it, the angrier she felt. Plus, there was still the vampire question. Finally, trying maintain her dignity (and especially, trying not to cry), Lily pulled back and slapped him hard across the face. "How dare you!" she cried, backing away from Severus, her chest heaving. She pulled her hair behind her with her hands, then nervously began twisting it into a coil. She wouldn't look at him. He had an expression of complete and utter confusion on his face. "How dare I--" Severus began, baffled. For once, she let her emotions flow freely. "How dare you take that--that courage potion and _then_ kiss me! Is that what it takes for a boy to tell me he cares about me and kiss me? I'm so sick of being treated like a disembodied brain floating around here, like I don't exist from the neck down." Or, she thought, being treated like I'm nothing _but_ a body, as Remus has been doing. _I'm a whole person!_ she wanted to scream. She felt like a dam had burst, as she voiced the frustrations that had plagued her for the previous two years. "'Ask Lily, she knows the answer,'" she said in a snide, high-pitched voice. "I'm a human being! I have feelings, and needs. Taking a potion to talk to me is--insulting. Am I so scary?" she demanded of him. He looked at her with wide eyes, obviously a bit alarmed. He thought it might be a bit tactless to tell her, _Yes. I'm scared to death to talk to you about how I feel. Why do you think I took the potion?_ Luckily, the potion was making him feel fairly confident, so he said, "No, Lily, that's not it. I was just--just nervous. I've wanted to say this for so long..." He had. For so very long... "Then you should have just said it!" she spat at him. "Damn you..." she trailed off, looking like she was going to cry. She frequently looked on the verge of tears lately. He had wanted many times to enfold her in his arms and comfort her, tell her that whatever was frightening her or upsetting her, he would be her rock.... Thanks to the influence of the potion, he finally felt the confidence to step closer to her and put his arms around her. She acquiesced at first, putting her head on his chest, then pulled away, wiping her eyes, adopting a more businesslike manner. Perhaps, he thought, she realized that this was also because of the potion. She glared at him. "You meet me under the oaks by the greenhouses in four days time, or however long it takes that potion to wear off. Don't take any more of it! Then if you want to tell me you love me and kiss me--well, we'll see! But don't you touch me until that damn potion wears off!" Her eyes were blazing, and she turned and stormed out of the room. Severus stared after her, his stomach clenching. Had she just told him to meet her by the oaks? To kiss her and tell her he loved her? He couldn't quite believe it. And she actually had kissed him back. He touched his lips in wonder. She actually seemed to want him to profess his love without being under the influence of any foreign substances.... He smiled broadly and resisted the urge to give a little skip into the air. _Yes!_ Lily Evans. _Severus Snape and Lily Evans._ He tried saying it out loud, then looked around guiltily, in case anyone heard him. And he saw, to his dismay, that someone had indeed heard him: a tall, thin, red-haired boy who was, despite his height, probably only in first or second year. The boy was standing in the doorway of the potions dungeon, and Severus thought he looked vaguely familiar. _Gah. All of these children look alike._ "What?" Severus Snape snapped at him. "Er," the boy said uncertainly, looking like he was going to bolt any second. "I was looking for the Potions Master," he said very quickly. Somehow, Severus Snape wasn't convinced that that was what the boy had meant to say. "Well, he's not here!" Snape answered him tersely. "Oh, okay," the boy said, bolting. Severus Snape put his face into the corridor for a moment, watching the long, thin legs sprinting away from him as though he was running from death itself. 

* * * * *

It had all started with just trying to get a good night's sleep. Bill was tired of the noise around him in the second-years boys' dorm. "I'll bet you he is," Alex Wood said, with an evil edge to his voice. "Bet you he isn't," Booth countered. "Is." "Isn't." "Is." "Isn't." "Then why did Sirius Black give him that goblet of blood? And the garlic? Did you see the way he acted about the garlic? And when he spewed the blood all over....even the Slytherins were disgusted. If no one else had been around, I bet he would have drunk every drop." It _had_ been rather spectacular, Bill remembered. Trust Sirius Black to play the prank of pranks. "Come on. They wouldn't let a bloody vampire into the school. What'll you be suggesting next? That the Head Girl is a banshee?" "She screams like one," Orville Simpson groused sleepily. "Ha!" Alex said, triumphant. "You said _bloody vampire._ What other kind is there?" Bill sighed. He was very, very tired, having been writing a yard-long History of Magic essay until after midnight, including some things his dad had told him about the Emperor Tiberius, and now he couldn't get any sleep for all of the noise in the room. "Someone go and offer to let him _bite_ you, why don't you, and find out _that_ way?" Bill suggested irritably, punching his pillow. _I got more sleep at home with a yowling baby in the house._ "All right," Rembert Leonard agreed. "Who should do it?" Orville Simpson asked, sounding more awake. Bill heard some movement and steps across the stone floor of the round tower room. Suddenly, in a burst of noise, the other four boys tore open his curtains and proclaimed, "Bill! Bill will do it!" they yelled gleefully. "You've got to offer yourself up to Snape, _Weasley._ See whether he makes a snack of you," Booth said, smacking his lips. "I am _not_ getting involved in this," Bill told them, wondering if he'd get in a _great deal_ of trouble for hexing all four of them. "It was _your_ suggestion," Booth pointed out. "Doesn't anyone around here recognize sarcasm when they hear it?" "No," Leonard said decisively. "If you do it--you can make one of us do something we don't want to do," Alex said with a wicked smile. Now Bill was feeling slightly wicked himself. "How about something you _want_ to do?" Orville frowned. "What do you mean?" Bill looked at Alex. "I mean that if I do this, _you_," he said to his best friend, "have to kiss Mary Ann Boxwood. On the _mouth._" Alex looked appalled. "No! No way!" "If I can ask Snape--a possible vampire, according to you--to bite me on the neck, you can kiss the girl you're crushing on." "I am not--" Alex started to say. He was interrupted by Booth and Leonard repeating the sing-song chant, "_Mary Ann and Alex, Mary Ann and Alex..._" "Sod off," Alex said grumpily, returning to his own bed. Bill rolled over to get back to sleep. In the morning, Bill had forgotten all about it, as though it had been a dream, but Alex reminded him after breakfast, after the first and second classes, after lunch, and when all of their classes were done for the day. He still had his end of the bargain to uphold. As they left their last class, Bill thought, _Now I have to find Severus Snape and ask him to bite me._ He grimaced at the thought. _Erg._ "Where do I even find him?" Bill asked Alex as they walked back to the Gryffindor common room. "What if he's in his dorm?" Alex shrugged. "Then you wait until later." When they reached the common room, Bill threw himself into a chair near the windows. A chess game was going on nearby. "No, really," he said. "It's a huge castle. How'm I supposed to find one person in this place? He could be anywhere." Suddenly, the twin girls from sixth year looked up from their chess game. Bill couldn't remember their names. "If you're looking for someone, ask James and Sirius," one of them said. "They always seem to know where everyone is," the other one said. Bill felt very grumpy; he did _not_ really want someone to solve his problem. Alex grinned at him evilly. "Go on then, you. Get up to their dorm and ask them." Bill grimaced and dragged himself to the spiral stairs. He trudged up, up the stone steps until he was on the level where the sixth years lived. The door was locked and he heard a muffled hum of conversation behind it. He knocked loudly, hoping they wouldn't hex him for disturbing them. He heard footsteps approaching the door and it was swung open by James Potter, who immediately grinned when he saw Bill. "Weasley! Hullo there. What can I do for you?" Behind Potter, Bill saw that Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin were hurriedly pulling the curtains around a four-poster with a lot of parchments on it. "Um. Those twin girls in your year. Downstairs. They said you could help me find someone. In the castle," he added awkwardly. Potter got a wise look on his face and ushered Bill into the room, locking the door securely. "Well. You came to the right place," Potter told him conspiratorially. "Sirius! Get out the you-know-what." Sirius Black nodded and went to his wardrobe. He opened the door, which was mirrored on the inside, and rummaged among some boxes on the floor. However, in the mirror, Bill could see that that wasn't where he was getting the you-know-what from. After he saw Black slip a piece of parchment from the pocket of a robe hanging in the wardrobe, Black made some more pointless noise with the boxes, and finally turned round with the parchment. Pettigrew, of all people, yelled, "No!" and jumped at Black, putting himself between him and Bill, seemingly to keep Bill from seeing the parchment. "Do you want him to _see_ it?" Pettigrew demanded of Black, who looked chagrined. "Sorry. You're right," he said quietly to the small boy. Raising his voice, he said to Bill, "You wait over there. You'll get your information, don't worry. But--turn around." Bill turned, and he noticed that in this position, the open door of another wardrobe was at the perfect angle to give him a clear view of what Black was doing with the parchment, reflected in the mirror on that wardrobe's door. Bill heard him say, as he touched his wand to the parchment, "_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good._" Bill covered his mouth to keep them from hearing his gasp (he wasn't supposed to be able to see what they were doing) as lines began to draw themselves all over the parchment. _It was a map,_ he could tell. _A map of Hogwarts castle!_ But how would that help him find Severus Snape? "So," Black said, "who are we looking for, then?" Bill swallowed. "Snape." There was nothing but silence behind him. "Snape," Sirius Black repeated without inflection. "That's right." James Potter said, "That's easy. We just left him. He's down in the potions dungeon." "Sirius!" Pettigrew said now. Bill heard the parchment being rattled. "Look how close together their dots are! It's like--like one dot!" Bill wanted to turn around, but he willed himself to stay put. "I'm going down there," he heard Sirius Black say stiffly, obviously very angry. "No, Sirius," Potter said, his voice shaking. You don't _know_--" "But--what if he's--_you know_--" James Potter was sounding very annoyed. "Oh, come on, Sirius. You're the only one who really believes that--" "I'm not! Even the Slytherins--" "And you're going to take _their_ word for it?" Potter countered. Sirius Black began cataloguing every unlikable thing there was about Severus Snape. Roughly every other item on the list was _He's a slimy Slytherin._ It seemed to Bill that Remus Lupin had been very quiet. Now, reflected in the wardrobe mirror, Bill could see that he was staring at the map. "Send Weasley," he said softly. "What?" Sirius said, interrupting his anti-Snape diatribe. He had reached number forty-three: _He's a really, really, really slimy Slytherin._

"Send Weasley. He'll be an intrusion. It's better than one of us." 

"But he might--" Sirius began. 

"Shut it, Padfoot," Remus said suddenly. "That's rubbish and you know it. Send Weasley. That's all that will be necessary. He's looking for him anyway." He resumed contemplating the map. Bill was mystified about how a map could tell him where Snape was, but then he saw in the mirror that Remus had taken out his wand; he tapped the map and said, "_Mischief managed._" 

Bill swallowed. The map disappeared again. _They had charmed a parchment to reveal its secrets only with a password. Another password wiped it clean._ Bill couldn't believe it. It was an amazing piece of magic, and he was fairly certain it _wasn't_ on the Hogwarts curriculum for _any_ year. 

"Th-thanks," Bill stuttered out, trying to walk toward the door without looking at the wardrobe where he knew Sirius Black was returning the parchment to its hiding place (its real hiding place, not in the boxes on the floor of the wardrobe, as he wanted Bill to believe). When he was on the landing again, he heard them securely bolt the door and resume the hum of conversation. 

All the way down to the dungeons, he just kept marveling at the map he'd seen, still wondering what the "dots" were, and how a map could help you locate a person. Then he stopped, remembering a conversation he'd overheard at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall the previous spring. 

James Potter had been talking about meeting his girlfriend in the library, and he had said, "The trouble is--there's something I need to get from a _certain place_, for which I need a _certain product_ from Mr. Moony, Mr. Padfoot, Mr. Wormtail and Mr. Prongs. Trouble is, I think _Remus_ has just what I need...." 

Bill remembered that Sirius Black had said something about giving "it" to Remus that morning. "_He sometimes feels the need to go off alone the day before_," he had added. "_You know. He can use it to make sure no one sneaks up on him._" And Bill had wondered what could _possibly_ keep a person from sneaking up on you? Other than an Invisibility Cloak, and he didn't think that was what Black meant. And up in the dorm, Remus Lupin had called Sirius _Padfoot_.... 

It must have been the map they were talking about, Bill decided. The map must--it must _show_ the locations of people in the castle. As he realized this, his heartbeat increased. _They could do anything, go anywhere, with such a map,_ he realized. 

Since Sirius Black was evidently "Padfoot," the other names must be the codenames his friends were using. He wondered which one was Moony, which Wormtail and which Prongs. _Prongs?_ he thought. Odd, that. Why would you use a codename like _Prongs?_ Wormtail wasn't much better. Moony was all right. That was probably Pettigrew, he guessed. All he ever seemed to do was moon about after Lily Evans. 

He was still thinking about this when he reached the corridor outside the potions dungeon, but he stopped when he heard something very strange. A girl was yelling in the dungeon, and Bill couldn't believe what she was saying: 

"_You meet me under the oaks by the greenhouses in four days time, or however long it takes that potion to wear off. Don't take any more of it! Then if you want to tell me you love me and kiss me--well, we'll see! But don't you touch me until that damn potion wears off!_" Bill was even more shocked when _Lily Evans,_ of all people, stormed into the corridor, her eyes blazing. He pressed himself into the wall, and she passed without his presence registering; she looked blinded by rage, so he wasn't completely surprised. What he _was_ interested in was knowing was _who had she been talking to_? Then, he heard a voice in the dungeon say, "_Severus Snape and Lily Evans._" Bill walked toward the door, seeing the boy he'd come looking for looking uncharacteristically dreamy and lovesick. When Severus Snape looked up and noticed Bill's presence, his face closed up. Bill didn't even remember their exchange precisely; he remembered later that he made up something about looking for the Potions Master, who wasn't there. When Snape told him as much, very tersely, Bill went tearing up the stairs out of the dungeon, having no idea what he would tell Alex Wood and the others. If he told them what really happened, what Lily Evans had said, they'd never believe him. But if Severus Snape was a vampire, Lily Evans, for one, certainly didn't seem to mind. 

* * * * *

**Notes:** In the Pensieve chapter of _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_ Moody does not yet have his magical eye, and that is supposed to be after Voldemort's fall. As such, he does not yet have his magical eye in this chapter, and no one has yet given him the name of "Mad-Eye." Earlier in GoF, Charlie speaks of going to work with his father and meeting Moody, so this is my version of that. (Bill does not say he met him, so I did not have anyone but Charlie actually speak to him.) Readers who are familiar with my fic _Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent_ will recognize some incidents that are mentioned in that story, although they are presented from a different point of view here. I first developed my concept of the Ministry of Magic's physical description for Chapter 30 of _Psychic Serpent_, where the reader may get Harry's perspective on it. The only other thing I have to add at this time is that I do not consider the film(s) to be canon, so please, no one else tell me that James Potter was a Seeker, not a Chaser. J.K. Rowling called him a Chaser in an online chat well before the film was released. While it is true that she approved many things for the script, I can only assume that she approved his Quidditch position changed to Seeker because, frankly, it doesn't matter one way or the other. Since I made James a Chaser back when I started writing _Psychic Serpent_, well before the film's release, a Chaser he shall remain in my universe. 

Many, many thanks to Andrew (Peglander), Lara Gill (Practical Magic), and Aurinia for doing the beta work on this chapter. 

Thanks also to everyone who commented on Chapter Three! 

Adrena, Aloha Moira, amrita, Ana, anorel, Ari Powwel, Atlantis Potter, Autumn9424, azriona, Baal extremely evil, blaubaerin, camdenbatgirluk, Carol, Clairvoyant Snake, dolphingirl3735, Elise, EmilyLaughed, enchantress88, Erica, Florence, Gryffindor Gal, Jaimie Goeble, Jewels, JJ_Similior, jords, Juliadactyl, juliecute945, julietstarz23, Kate Potter, katmandu02, Keith Fraser, Kimby, Lanski, Liena Moriah, Lizbo, ljmimnaugh, Mae, mewtopia, Micah Brown, Mim, moon, Nala, Neil, PaperCut, Pilar, Polikwaptiwa, Sarah G, Siriusgirl, SnapesGirl87, Sophie, sffcorgi, StarWest45, stockw_98, tascha star, thea_zara, unsungrhapsody, XLargeFry and xxlangley. 

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	5. Wolf's Howl

**Title:** The Lost Generation (1975-1982) (05/20)  
**Author name:** Barb  
**Author email:** psychic_serpent@yahoo.com  
**Category:** Mystery  
**Sub Category:** Romance  
**Keywords:** MWPP Lily Snape Bill Weasley  
**Rating:** R  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA, Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent, Harry Potter and the Time of Good Intentions  
**Summary:** Bill Weasley begins his education at Hogwarts in 1975, in the middle of Voldemort's reign of terror. He never suspects that the Gryffindor prefects he looks up to, Lily Evans and James Potter, will eventually have a son who saves the wizarding world, nor that the Weasley family will eventually play an important role in the Dark Lord's fall. All he knows is that in a very scary wizarding world, Hogwarts is a safe haven where he has always longed to be--until, that is, there are whispers of vampires and werewolves, of Death Eaters and traitors, and a Seeress pronounces a Prophecy which will shake the wizarding world to its very foundations....  
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.   
**Author notes:** _The Lost Generation_ is the prequel to the _Psychic Serpent Trilogy_, which begins with _Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent_. There are events and characters mentioned which appear in other books in the trilogy (such as two Weasley sisters who were born between Charlie and Percy). While it is not absolutely necessary to read the trilogy first (the third book is in progress) it may be helpful in some respects. A FAQ file concerning the entire story arc is also available on the Psychic_Serpent Yahoo Group website.  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**The Lost Generation**

(1975-1982)

Chapter Five

** Wolf's Howl**

  
  
  
_Friday, 11 December, 1976_

Lily shifted uncomfortably in the hospital bed; she was going to get bedsores at this rate. She couldn't do much but lie on her back and wait for the boneset under the bandages to work its miracles. She never had a broken bone in her life, and while she was very glad to be able to avail herself of wizarding medicine--something her mother couldn't do--she still remembered the pain of breaking the bone with a freshness she was afraid wouldn't go away for some time. 

She tried to think of something more pleasant than breaking her leg. She thought of Severus. That made a slow smile spread across her face. Almost as though he had read her mind, the door to the infirmary opened and he entered, and the expression he wore on his face made her catch her breath. The intensity of feeling she saw there was humbling. _Do I deserve that?_ she wondered. She tried not to think, _Do I feel the same way?_ How could she not? How could she not return his feelings, when he had expressed them at such cost, and he treated her like a queen, and adored her beyond all reason? 

He was swiftly at her bedside, with his long strides, and he sat, never taking his eyes from her, reaching for her slim, pale hand, holding it firmly. She gazed back at him; they were both silent for several minutes. 

"What are you thinking?" she finally asked him softly. 

He held her hand even more firmly, as though it was the most precious thing to him. "That day...under the oaks...." 

She gave him a small smile. "I was, too." 

It had without a doubt been a time to remember, the day when the Eutharsos Potion had worn off and he had met her under the oaks that led to the greenhouses.... 

The huge overarching trees were every shade of scarlet and ochre; acorns and fallen leaves carpeted the sheltered path between the oaks. She started down the path nervously, feeling a chill run through her bones from a cool autumn breeze and the fact that no sun infiltrated this passage, since too many leaves still clung to the branches. 

She had challenged Severus, in the Potions Dungeon. _Then if you want to tell me you love me and kiss me--well, we'll see!_ Would he do it? What would she do if he did? She remembered what it was like to kiss him, to feel like she was treasured for _herself_, not just someone who could satisfy a physical craving, someone who happened to be the nearest warm body. Realizing that he might not have proclaimed his love or kissed her were it not for the potion had been crushing. 

She saw from the far end of the leafy tunnel that Severus was waiting for her, idly tearing leaves apart as he waited. He sat on the ground, leaning against the trunk of an enormous tree near the end of the arboreal passage, closest to the greenhouses; his dark robes puddled around him and his skin was very pale. There wasn't a ray of sun touching him. _Don't think about the vampire thing,_ she told herself as she drew nearer. A split second later, she thought, _Drat. Too late._

Severus Snape watched her approach, his stomach in knots. He was quite certain that the Eutharsos Potion had worn off. His heart was pounding in his chest too insistently for it to still be in effect. Underneath the spreading branches he could see Lily drawing nearer, her robes billowing behind her. He couldn't take his eyes off her. _She's actually coming to meet me,_ he thought, incredulous. _She's not being threatened, or coerced...._

An attack of nerves struck him forcibly and he struggled to calm himself again before she was close enough to see how shaky he was. When she was a couple of yards away, he began to stand, but before he was on his feet, she was starting to sit, and he awkwardly fell to the ground again, feeling incredibly stupid and ungainly. She was having trouble adjusting her robes, yanking at them with an irritated frown, to prevent them from pulling down in the back and strangling her. He smiled, watching her; she seemed she might put a curse on the robes any second, her face appeared so cross. Then he tried to sober, in case she thought he was laughing at her. That was the last thing he wanted her to think. One reason he loved her was that, in spite of her brilliance and beauty, she was also incredibly _human_. He remembered holding her in his arms, and the way she had responded to his kiss, opening her mouth under his.... 

He wished he had dared to make more of the potion. He was afraid she would see that his hands were shaking. 

She did see them, but pretended she didn't. She looked at him squarely, and with no preamble, said, "Well, Severus?" 

He tried to _imagine_ that he was under the influence of the potion, and the placebo effect started to help him; he moved his eyes down to her hands in her lap, and picked up one of them, twined his long fingers in between hers, raised his eyes to hers again. "Lily," he began, his voice catching. He cleared his throat, then tried beginning again. "Lily," he finally managed to say, "I meant what I said in the Potions Dungeon." 

She frowned and shook her head. "Try again." But she liked the feeling of holding his hand and did not separate her fingers from his. 

He cleared his throat yet again. "Lily," he said louder and firmer, deciding to get it over with. "I love you." He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips, pulling back after the quick contact, waiting for the verdict. His heart was a thunderstorm in his ears. 

Lily smiled this time, glancing down at their linked hands, then back up at his face. "There, now, was that so hard? I mean, without potion?" Severus shook his head, a slight smile pulling at his mouth. "But that kiss," she went on, "wasn't much like the one from the other day, was it?" she said in a lower voice, hoping he understood her meaning. _Where's the rabid Slytherin, dying to get unsuspecting Gryffindor girls alone to have his way with them?_ she wondered, thinking about a typical Slytherin stereotype. _He can really be quite sweet when he's not trying to be a typical Slytherin...._

She was feeling daring as leaned in toward him, opening her mouth a little, seeing for a split second that he was shocked. A moment later, his shock had given way to desire and pleasure, as he enfolded her in his arms and deepened the kiss, holding her head up to his, snaking his hand under her hair, stroking her neck with his long fingers in order to hear her sigh against his mouth, feel her shudder slightly with the sensation. They both broke the kiss slowly at the same time, pulling back tentatively, lips tingling. She loved the way his dark eyes shone with happiness, thinking, _I did that._

But then his eyes became hooded once more, familiar to her from accompanying him to the hospital wing. She saw pain there, but unlike the physical pain she had sometimes seen him withstand, this seemed more like an emotional pain. Severus looked at her soberly. He had vacillated on whether to tell her, but somehow he knew that he had to be honest with her from the start or it would be no good. She _knew_ what others said about him, and although she hadn't seemed to believe, and had just been kissing him deeply, he wanted to be certain she knew the truth. He wanted to be completely open with her and avoid complications later. If she didn't want to be with him after hearing what he had to say, he would just have to accept that, he thought, his breath catching. But hopefully....hopefully it wouldn't matter to her and she wouldn't leave him.... 

"There's something else I want to tell you, Lily. Something no one else knows. Well, no other students. I want you to know everything about me." He tried to keep his voice from going up in pitch, but it wasn't easy. He'd never in his life told anyone outside his family about this. The headmaster and matron knew, but his parents had told them, when he'd started school. Before they had been killed by over-enthusiastic Aurors who would never be brought to justice....He shook his head, trying to concentrate and simultaneously gauge whether she was likely to take it well. 

Lily appeared to be a little apprehensive, but didn't say anything. She gazed at him expectantly, silently, but with an air of _judging_ that he found difficult to ignore. To be fair, he wasn't sure how someone _should_ look who had just kissed someone and then heard, _I want you to know everything about me._ She was bound to be apprehensive. 

Severus went on. "I want you to know the truth, about why I avoid the sunlight, and eating garlic, and that potion I have to get from Madam Pomfrey..." 

Lily felt bile rise in her throat, as she thought about _kissing_ him; she backed up from him a little, pointing at him with a shaking hand, feeling like her heart had stopped. _Sirius was right!_ She said it aloud now: "Sirius was right!" She was breathing quickly and looking like she might bolt any second. 

"What?" He frowned, utterly confused; then his eyes widened as understanding dawned on him. But she was barreling on. 

"Well, avoiding sunlight, and garlic, and going to Madam Pomfrey for potion regularly--Sirius saw it, but I didn't want to!" The night of the goblet-of-blood prank, he'd been ranting about this in the Gryffindor common room. James had rolled his eyes and argued with him, stating all of the reasons why it couldn't be. "James thought he was crazy, but--you're a vampire! Oh, my god, I let you kiss me..." She touched her lips, then withdrew her hand hastily, as though her mouth had been soiled. 

His jaw dropped. She actually _believed_ that rot. "Is that what--" He appeared to be both angry and sad. "No, Lily. I am not a bloody vampire. Pardon the pun. I have porphyria." 

"Porphyria?" She was perplexed. 

"It's a liver disease. I take Porphyry Potion for it, made largely of spleenwort, with love-lies-bleeding as well. There's also a topical salve I can put on, to increase the time I can spend in the sun. Porphyria is a little like hepatitis, but it's hereditary. It's not usually found in wizard bloodlines, but I had a Muggle great-great-grandfather or something like that, and he had it." He explained to her then about the photophobia, or sun-sensitivity, and his sensitivity to the alium bulb and all related bulbs, which meant he had to avoid onions and garlic. She correctly surmised that since it was a liver disease, it affects his blood. 

"Yes. So, at one time, it was thought that people with porphyria needed other people's blood. Hence the whole idea that those suffering from it were vampires." 

She was confused again. "But--there are real vampires, aren't there?" 

"Oh, yes, and they can't go out in the sun either. And I do have a reflection--not that I care much for it..." She smiled at his modesty; _she_ liked his appearance just fine. "But they really do drink blood. People with porphyria don't, although it was assumed that they did--that we did--for centuries. And vampires are only repelled by garlic; I have a bad reaction to anything related to alium--" He explained that he had bad reactions especially to elephant garlic and shallots, and that the sun made him appear jaundiced and gave him blisters, since he couldn't process its nutrients, like most fair-skinned people. "It's a chronic, incurable disease, both in the wizarding world and the Muggle world. It can be treated, managed, but there's no cure, and if I have children, there's an excellent chance they'll inherit it." 

Lily looked at him silently, pityingly. Severus saw this and tried not to let his anger overwhelm him. Keeping his voice very even, he said, "Don't look at me that way, Lily. Don't pity me. That's not why I told you. I just thought you should know." He wished she would stop looking at him that way, with that sad, pitying expression.... 

"Oh, Severus," she said at last, linking her arm through his, putting her head on his shoulder. He smiled down at her; not a huge smile, but an unsure pulling at the corners of his mouth. He wasn't completely convinced that she wasn't still feeling sorry for him. But then she lifted her head and brushed her lips against his, and he parted his lips and tentatively flicked his tongue against her teeth, forgetting everything else as he drew her face to his for another kiss. This kiss wasn't as deep as the earlier one, but it had an element of honesty to it that the earlier one had lacked. _She knew_. She knew all about him and she hadn't turned and fled. Then Lily curled up next to him, her head on his chest, while he felt her warm weight against him and stroked her hair and wondered how he had gotten this lucky.... 

"What are you smiling about?" he asked her, smiling a little himself as he held her hand and marveled at the beautiful juxtaposition of her deep red hair on the crisp white hospital linen. She squeezed his hand and her eyes twinkled mischievously. 

"I was thinking how I'd like to kiss you right now," she said boldly. He tensed up, as he usually did when she said anything similar. He was not very verbal about this sort of thing, she had found. However--she was trying to have their physical relationship go more slowly than it had between her and Remus, and all they had done thus far was some snogging. Even groping had been kept to a minimum. She dreaded him finding out how she had broken her leg.... 

The door to the infirmary opened again and James and Bonnie entered. Severus abruptly withdrew his hand from hers and stood up awkwardly, knocking his chair over, then fumbling to right it. 

"Um, so, those are the chapters you are expected to read for Potions. I promised the Potions Master I would tell you and I have," he said to her, his voice's crisp businesslike air only marred by a brief quaver. 

He turned and practically walked right into James Potter and Bonita Manetti. He didn't acknowledge them at all. They might have been merely pieces of furniture he was trying to avoid walking into. Both James and Bonnie frowned after him as he slammed the door of the infirmary on his way out. When they turned back to Lily, she forced herself to smile, wishing she could have had more time with Severus. On the other hand, it was also nerve-wracking to be with him, since they were in an early awkward phase of their relationship, and were not telling people that they were seeing each other. It had been his idea; he was afraid her Gryffindor friends would make trouble. She'd insisted that she wasn't ashamed of him, but he hadn't budged. Severus, she had quickly discovered, could be _very_ stubborn. Visiting with Bonnie and James, her friends, would be a bit more relaxing, all told. 

They soon had her laughing about Herbology mishaps and other things; James didn't actually talk much, but let the girls chatter. He found himself glancing furtively back and forth between the two of them. 

James knew how Lily had broken her leg. 

The thought of it made his mouth go dry. Seeing her now, lying in the bed wearing the hospital smock....He tried to focus on Bonnie, instead, pretty Bonnie, with her wide smile and sparkling eyes, her perfect small nose and heart-shaped face, which had endearing dimples when she smiled....but somehow his eyes kept going back to Lily.... 

He knew that she was sleeping with Remus. He couldn't understand why they weren't a public couple, why it just seemed to be--shagging. And now--now was she interested in _Snape_? Sirius insisted this was true; James wasn't so sure. If they were indeed a couple, they behaved very oddly together. But ever since he'd found out about Lily and Remus, he'd had a very difficult time thinking of her in the same way, in a _sisterly_ way. He remembered how she had given herself over to passion, when he had found her and Remus in the common room almost a year earlier. She had seemed like a different person. A person who crept into his dreams far too often these days, instead of the person who belonged there, his girlfriend, Bonnie.... 

"Don't you think so, James?" Bonnie looked at him expectantly. 

"Huh? What?" he sputtered. "Oh, um, of course. Whatever you say, Bonnie." 

Both girls looked at each other, their eyes merry, before bursting into hysterical laughter. "You haven't any idea what Bonnie said, do you James?" Lily said, almost breathless. 

He reddened and shook his head. "Sorry. I'm knackered." It wasn't a complete lie; it was just far in advance. The full moon would be rising when the sun set, and he and the others would be accompanying Remus. In the morning he _would_ be completely exhausted. "I think I might go have a lie-down before dinner. I--I hope you'll excuse me Lily. I really did want to visit with you--" 

She smiled indulgently; he was so flustered. It was quite endearing, really, Lily thought. James had never quite lost the air of a lost eleven-year-old, despite the fact that he could also exert a surprising authority at times, now that he was in his second year as a prefect. When he was caught daydreaming, he turned bright red. Lily suspected he'd been thinking of Bonnie. _They make such a nice couple,_ she thought. Then she sighed inwardly. _No one will ever think that about me and Severus._

Bonnie took his hand as he stood. "Don't worry. I'll keep Lily company. You go rest," she told him, as he leaned down to give her a peck on the cheek. He thought for a moment of kissing her on the lips, but he had a feeling that she didn't want to be that demonstrative in front of someone else. He left the infirmary and stood in the corridor, leaning heavily against the door, hearing the murmur of the girls' voices again. _Bonnie is my girlfriend,_ he reminded himself. _Sirius already tried to make an incompetent pass at Lily, and Peter is always fawning over her, and she's actually sleeping with Remus. Don't get any stupid ideas about a girl who thinks of you as a brother._

He strode through the corridors, trying to get his mind off Lily, but it was difficult, since he was soon going to be wandering the Forbidden Forest with her lover. James frowned, trying to figure out how he felt about Remus. Deep down, although he envied him a bit, he didn't begrudge him a little happiness. He just wished--he didn't know what he wished. He wished that he and Bonnie hadn't finally slept together on Halloween, that was something he knew he wished. It had been an unmitigated disaster. Awkwardness personified. He hadn't even finished, but lied about it, and when he tried to do more for her (she seemed to be _incredibly_ disappointed, but denied it) she had been appalled, asking him, _What on earth are you doing?_ and scuttling away from his hands and mouth. When he'd tried to tell her (badly, as he'd never done it, only heard about it), she was _aghast_, and he knew then that he would not be seeing her in the throes of passion that night. 

They had attempted to have sex again a few weeks later, with a little more success (on James' part) but she still wouldn't let him help her to completion. She insisted it was fine, _she_ was fine, and said something vague about it being all for _him_, anyway. He hated her feeling that way, as though it were some obligation on her part, something she'd decided to do because she thought he expected it. He hoped he'd never given her that impression. Perhaps some other girls had. On the whole, neither time had been very _emotionally_ satisfying. After each encounter, they'd cuddled and whispered endearments to each other, but it all felt rather empty, somehow. The second time especially, feeling sated and knowing she wasn't, he couldn't help thinking that Lily wouldn't be like that, Lily had a passion and a fire in her that-- 

He shook himself as he walked. He was doing it again. _Remus and Lily. Don't think about Remus and Lily. Oh, bugger, I'm thinking about Remus and Lily._ It also didn't help that Sirius frequently returned to Gryffindor Tower in the middle of the night after romantic liaisons, wanting to regale the other boys with every detail of his latest conquest. Sirius couldn't be said to have a girlfriend, strictly speaking, but he certainly didn't lack for girls queuing up to compete for the privilege. James had let him think his relationship with Bonnie had gone further than it had before they'd actually slept together the first time (or attempted to sleep together), in order to stop Sirius from ribbing him mercilessly. He hadn't felt ready yet. _A bloke's allowed to take these things slowly if he wants to_, he had thought. Now he wished he'd taken it even slower. 

In the infirmary, Bonnie bade Lily goodbye and left. When the other girl was gone, Lily let her face relax; it almost hurt from smiling so much. She peeked under the sheet to peek at her leg. She wished she hadn't given in and gone down to the common room the night before....but she hadn't met him the week after kissing Severus under the oaks, and she hadn't met him the month after that, either, feeling very bad for him when she saw the outward signs of his suffering. The first time, he had asked her the next day whether she was feeling well, and she said she'd been exceptionally tired the night before. He nodded, but did not speak of it again. The following month, two days afterward, he asked her whether she was angry with him. She denied it, and didn't mention the way in which she'd been providing him with "friendly" help. He didn't mention it either. 

And then, the previous day, all day, his face had been grey and dripping with sweat, his eyes had been wide and pained, with that red glint in them, and she started to feel incredibly guilty. She knew she could give him relief, but she still loved him, and being with him when she couldn't tell him how she felt was excruciating. She knew he would give her as much physical pleasure as she gave him, but she wanted to accompany that with a proclamation of her feelings. She was afraid that if they went on this way she couldn't help but blurt it out eventually, which would be incredibly awkward, as the didn't return her feelings. And yet--she positively _ached_ from not being able to tell him. And she also felt guilty for meeting with Severus, for kissing him when she wasn't completely certain her feelings for him were as strong as they were for Remus. She did _have_ feelings for Severus, but-- 

The door to the infirmary opened once more and she looked up, surprised. It was Remus. His face was ashen. He walked over to her nervously; she was blushing deeply, from seeing him right after thinking about him, but he interpreted this as anger. As far as he could tell, he was probably the last person she wanted to see. She didn't exactly have a welcoming expression on her face, he thought. When he stood beside her bed, he twisted his robes in his fingers nervously. 

"I know I'm the last person you want to see right now, Lily," he said, his voice shaking. Her eyes were very round. 

_No,_ she thought. _Unfortunately, that's only partially true..._

"Don't be silly, Remus," she answered, her voice also shaking. "You didn't mean to hurt me." 

"But I broke your leg!" 

"Sssh!" she said quickly, hushing him, glancing toward Madam Pomfrey's office, lest she hear him. "I told Madam Pomfrey I fell down the stairs, remember?" 

"But--but--" Remus said, sinking into a chair by her bedside and then bending over, his face buried in the sheets and blankets on her bed. She tentatively touched his head, then laced her fingers through his hair soothingly, her heart turning over. 

"Don't, Remus," she whispered as his shoulders hunched and he cried silently. "I'll be fine, really," she murmured. 

She wondered now whether the fact that she hadn't met him since September had meant there was a kind of dammed up river of passion which had burst when she'd come into the common room the night before. He'd been about to put on the Invisibility Cloak and leave, but stood near the portrait hole, still holding its silvery folds, and the moment he saw her enter the room his eyes had dilated and she had felt like he was a hunter and she the prey. Yet, it was a delicious feeling; she'd almost forgotten what this was like, being with Remus. She'd tried to tell herself that she was moving on, with Severus, that Remus had never thought of her as anything more than a helpful friend. She knew she needed to get over him, to stop thinking he would ever proclaim his love, and sleeping with him was certainly _not_ going to help. She had quite purposefully _not_ met him when she'd seen his symptoms flare up during the previous two months, she reminded herself. She had promised herself that she was not going to get caught up in him again, not when he didn't love her.... 

All of that went flying out the window the moment he strode across the room and took her in his arms. She immediately responded, pulling him to her, and they didn't even remember to cover themselves with the Invisibility Cloak until they were both completely unclothed. None of their other encounters had been quite so fervent, even when he'd bitten her. Then, near the end, when he was very close, he'd pulled her legs around his waist more thoroughly, but the way he'd pulled her left leg had made her cry out, and then he realized, in his hazy lust-filled stupor, that there had been a report like a gunshot, and that her leg was no longer behaving as it should. Her eyes were black with pain and she bit her lip, moaning in her throat not with passion, but with agony. 

"I think," she had finally whispered with a rasp in her voice, tears running down into her hair, "m-my leg is b-broken...." 

He had separated from her, his stomach clenching, his brain crying, _No! I've hurt her again!_ He stared at her for what seemed an eternity, before coming to his senses and taking action. He pulled his wand from the pile of clothes and waved it over her leg, saying shakily, "_Ferula._" A splint and bandages now wrapped her leg, so that it wasn't flopping awkwardly about. She still needed to see Madam Pomfrey though, he thought. _Stupid! So stupid!_ he berated himself silently. 

He pulled on his boxers and helped Lily pull her nightdress over her head so she was covered. They were no longer under the cloak. Remus reached for it when he heard footsteps on the stairs from the boys' dorms, but too late; James was entering the room, his wand out, his hair standing on end and his glasses hooked over only one ear. He hadn't pulled his dressing gown on over his too-short pajamas and he was very pale. When he saw them, Lily blushed deeply, wishing she could flee up the stairs to the girls' dorm, like the other time James had found them together. He walked toward them, frowning. 

"I--I heard a noise--" 

He looked back and forth between Remus and Lily, the evidence of what they'd been doing quite plain. Remus was still wearing only his underwear, and Lily only wore her nightdress. She hadn't tried to pull her knickers on over the splint; they lay on the floor nearby, next to her dressing gown, which she also wished she was wearing, as her nightdress was rather thin and James seemed to be looking at it very intently, making her blush persist. 

"Lily--Lily broke her leg," Remus said, pulling on his trousers clumsily, as though the break had occurred spontaneously and had nothing to do with the sexual activity in which they'd obviously been engaged. 

James' eyes widened. "_What_?" he whispered. He immediately went on his knees next to her. She didn't know whether to feel grateful for his concern or incredibly embarrassed that he knew they'd been shagging. It didn't help that her knickers were right next to his knee. 

He sat her up and gently helped her put her arms into her dressing gown sleeves, carefully rolling her side to side in order to wrap it around her and tie the belt. He noticed the knickers then, his mouth working soundlessly, unsure what to do about this. She grimaced and reached out for them, hurriedly stuffing them into her dressing gown pocket, her face feeling very hot. He put his hand on her brow; it felt icy against her skin. 

"You're burning up," he said. "You rest while I talk to Remus about the best way to get you to the hospital wing, all right?" 

She nodded, her eyes very wide still; she felt oddly bereft when he left her side to go speak to Remus, who had been pacing the floor about ten feet away, wringing his hands, looking dreadful. 

"Finish getting dressed," James said sharply, using what Remus thought of as his prefect's voice. His friend quickly donned the rest of his clothes again. "All right. We need to get her to the hospital wing," he said, switching to a whisper now so Lily wouldn't think him rude for speaking about her in the third person. "Can you carry her alone, do you think?" James knew that Remus was preternaturally strong because of his lycanthropy, but he was shaking and perspiring, there was a yellow cast to his skin and the red glint in his eyes was constant instead of appearing as an occasional flash. Remus shook his head vigorously. James nodded. "I could do it if you like. If I stun her, there's a spell I can use to transport an unconscious person--except I'd rather not put her through that right now if we can do it some other way. She's already had one shock to her system. A stunner wouldn't be the best idea. If she actually blacks out from the pain, _then_ I can use the spell--" 

"I--I can't carry her alone," Remus said croakily; James had to strain to hear him. "Not--not the way I am right now. Not enough control. What with it being the eve of the full moon....But I might be able to do it with you." James was already nodding in understanding. 

"Right. We could make a kind of chair for her, with our arms, and go that way," he said quietly, trying to be clearheaded, trying to be the strong one. "And we have to have our story straight, too, before we leave, both for Pomfrey and in case we run into Filch or any professors." 

"What d-do you mean?" Remus seemed to be having trouble speaking now, and James hoped he wasn't going to collapse. They were standing very close together, and Remus seemed to be _smelling_ him, breathing in his essence. James stepped back a few inches and cleared his throat. 

"I mean--the professors know you're a werewolf, but they can't know that you had anything to do with the injury. It wouldn't look good for you. Even though you didn't bite someone....Understand? We'll say--we'll say Lily thought she heard someone in the common room and she was drowsy and stumbled when she was coming down. She broke her leg falling down the stairs. Agreed? We need to make sure none of us say the word 'werewolf.'" 

"Ssssh!" Remus said suddenly, even though James' voice hadn't risen above a whisper, to avoid disturbing Lily, who was lying on the floor still, waiting. James frowned at him. 

"Why are you--? Oh, no. Surely she--oh, god, Remus, don't tell me--" But he saw the expression in his friend's eyes and knew immediately. "She doesn't _know_?" he hissed. He suddenly felt like throttling Remus, but he restrained himself, as he knew his friend was already berating himself for breaking Lily's leg. 

"H-hullo?" Lily's strained voice floated to them from the corner where she was waiting. "Are--are we going soon?" 

James glaring at Remus, they returned to Lily and slid their arms under her, locking their hands together, then lifting her at the same time, while her warm weight tested their bond. James found that his face was in her hair as they walked toward the portrait hole and he could see the freckles across her nose very clearly. She turned her head suddenly and tried to kiss him on the cheek, but missed and came very close to the left corner of his mouth. 

"Thank you, James," she said simply. He reddened and hastened to get her out into the corridor and to the hospital wing. It seemed to take forever. They discussed the falling-down-the-stairs story on the way there, quietly, should they be overheard by Filch or anyone else. However, they met no one on the way and Lily was soon being clucked over by Madam Pomfrey, who praised Remus' splint and started bustling about, getting Lily a boneset and some bandages. The two boys stayed while she worked, and then Madam Pomfrey took one look at their weary faces, the bags under their eyes, and offered some of the empty beds in the infirmary to them, so they wouldn't need to go all the way back to Gryffindor Tower to get some sleep. 

James climbed gratefully into a bed near Lily's, but Remus nervously backed up from them. "No," he'd rasped. "I--I can't bear it--" And he bolted from the infirmary while the three who remained exchanged puzzled glances. Lily thought his guilt might be overwhelming him, and later, as they talked to each other before falling asleep, James said as much. 

She lifted Remus' face to her now. "I'm fine, Remus. Please stop this. Just--sit with me for a while. Talk to me. We don't talk enough any more. I'd--I'd rather not think about last night. Distract me. Talk to me about other things." 

What she most wanted to do was to hear him say he loved her, and tell him the same thing, but instead she listened to his halting words, prompting him occasionally, and eventually, they were conversing naturally again, in a way she missed. She watched his face as he spoke, the grey lock of hair bobbing above his brow, that dimple he had only in the left cheek when he smiled or laughed.... 

She hadn't noticed how dark it was getting; now that the solstice was nearing, there was very little daylight at all between sunrise and sunset; the sun went down when classes were barely over for the day, and before the evening meal. Suddenly, the infirmary door flew open. Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew stood there, panting as though they'd been running. 

"There you are!" Sirius cried, striding into the room, while Peter straggled behind. "You missed class!" Remus turned, surprised, then stared out of the infirmary windows, his eyes widening. 

"Bloody hell," Remus breathed when he saw how low in the sky the sun was. Lily frowned. 

"Yeah, there _will_ be bloody hell to pay if you don't come with us _right now,_" Sirius said threateningly. Lily crossed her arms. 

"Sirius Black! How dare you speak to him that way! We were talking! You're being _very_ rude!" She glared at him. 

Sirius drew his lips into a line. "Better for me to be rude than for you to wind up--" 

"So!" Peter cried suddenly, stepping in front of Sirius and coming forward to drag on Remus' arm. "We'll have to come visit you tomorrow morning, Lily. So sorry we didn't come today. _Aren't_ we, Sirius?" 

Remus let himself be dragged away from the bed by Peter Pettigrew, of all people. Lily watched them, perplexed. "But--what on earth--?" she began. 

"Dinner!" Peter said suddenly, his eyes very round. "Can't have Remus being late for dinner! Got to run! It's getting late!" He glared pointedly at Remus. "_Very, very, very late_!" 

Remus nodded vigorously. "Yes, Lily. Quite. I--I have to go. Thanks for coming to get me, mates," he said in a voice that had become strangely throaty. Lily was still frowning. 

"Remus didn't say anything about being hungry. And it isn't time for dinner yet. You could have let him stay for a _few_ more--" 

Sirius started to say, "Oh, you don't want to see him once he realizes how hungry he really _is_--" 

Peter _hit Sirius_ in the ribs with the back of his hand, making a rather loud sound, so Lily knew it had been painful. She was completely shocked; Peter hitting _Sirius_? And yet--Sirius didn't retaliate, but seemed to think he'd been justifiably chastised. Lily's head was swimming. The boys were behaving _very_ strangely. As they hurried toward the infirmary door, it suddenly swung open, causing all three of them to cry out, "_Aaaaah!_" in surprise and stumble into the newcomer. 

Standing in the doorway was Severus Snape. He was holding a tray of food--but not for long. The three Gryffindors barreled into him and in seconds the tray was flying through the air and food and dishes and other tableware were airborne as well. Much of the food--what didn't wind up on the floor--eventually landed on Snape. 

Lily had never heard swearing quite like what came out of Severus' mouth now. He called the Gryffindors every vile, profane name he could think of. He damned their great-great-great-grandchildren to hell. He insulted their ancestors for five generations back. They were, according to him, worse than all of the Squibs and Muggles put together. He called into question the existence or effectiveness of their brains, their penises, and their testicles (not in that order). He suggested that much of what he had been carrying on the tray would fit very nicely in their various bodily orifices (one in particular), and that the items would, in fact, soon be taking up residence there. 

Sirius, Peter and Remus heard none of it. 

The moment they had collided with Severus Snape, they were bolting out of the infirmary, and Lily could hear their footsteps receding along the corridor. Severus continued to rant angrily, shaking his fist after them. Breathing heavily, anger still roiling through him, he met Lily's gaze, finding her staring at him with wide eyes. 

"Er," he said uncertainly, painfully aware of the awkwardness of losing his temper to such an extreme in front of the girl with whom he was in love and whose affections he daily doubted he deserved. Surely she would think him a monster now, for treating her friends in such a manner. However, he saw after his initial panic that her eyes were actually shining with amusement and a slight smile was pulling at her mouth. She reached into the drawer of the table next to her bed for her wand; waving it at the mess, she said calmly, "_Ordo ex chaos,_" and before he knew what was happening, the tray had leapt into his hands again, and the food and dishes, including a pitcher of pumpkin juice, had returned to their original places. He looked at her, unable to help smiling; was it any wonder he was in love with her? She could sit there and listen to him condemn her friends (while covered in pumpkin juice and mashed potatoes, no less, which was hardly dignified) and still smile at him, then recite a simple spell (the _perfect_ spell) to rectify the situation. 

He walked to her bed slowly, afraid now that he would do something stupid like trip over his own feet and spill it all again. "I thought you might like your tea early, Lily. I asked Professor McGonagall permission to get you some food from the kitchens before the rest of the school went down for their meal. She--she seemed to think it odd, but she took me to the kitchens herself. Perhaps she thought I was going to get up to some mischief, add a potion to the food going to the Gryffindor table or something." He tried not to grin, but it was very difficult. He sobered again and continued, "So, here you are. And--and I can stay to keep you company, if you like. There's enough for two of us. I--I've seen what you like to eat, so I thought you might like some shepherd's pie. That's what I brought." Then he realized that that sounded like he'd been spying on her. _Now she'll order me out of her sight,_ he thought gloomily, wishing he'd said that Professor McGonagall had suggested the shepherd's pie. But she sat up straighter in the bed and smiled at him. 

"That's lovely, Severus. I adore the Hogwarts shepherd's pie. That's so considerate of you. Do sit." He released his breath, relief flooding him, as he rested the tray on the bed and sat in the chair vacated by Remus Lupin. "I used to hate shepherd's pie before Hogwarts. My mum's was terrible, but my dad and sister and I never dared tell her that we didn't like it...." Her eyes were sad then, and he remembered her mother's situation. He nodded. 

"Right. I had a row with my dad the day before he and my mum were killed, and I still wish that we could have--" Then he stopped. _Oh, could we try to be more tactless, Severus?_ he scolded himself, realizing what he'd said. "Oh, I'm sorry Lily. I didn't mean that your mum--" 

She sniffled and wiped her eyes quickly. "No, that's all right, Severus. I know just what you mean. That's--that's why we never said anything, you know? We never know when we--we might be forced to say goodbye to her. But at least--at least we _know_ that's a danger," she said softly, impatiently pushing her hair behind her ears, clearly trying to master her emotions again. "You had no warning. Nor James. So sudden....It's just not fair." She put one hand over his and squeezed. He turned his palm upward under her grasp and squeezed back. 

"Why--why don't we eat, Lily?" he said quietly, trying to forget what had occurred when he'd entered the infirmary. She nodded and soon they were unable to converse for their full mouths. At length, though, Lily swallowed a mouthful of mashed potatoes and said, "You did rather lose it there, you know. Not that I blame you. And I thought _I_ had a temper." 

Severus was surprised. He choked down his mouthful of food. "Well--that's another symptom of porphyria. It--it makes one rather tetchy at times. I wonder sometimes how different my personality would be if I didn't have this ruddy disease." 

She grinned. Holding her goblet, about to take a sip, she said merrily, "You certainly wouldn't be the Severus Snape we all know and love!" Right afterward, she put the goblet to her lips, but she almost spit out her pumpkin juice when she saw the expression on Severus' face. _I said love._ She managed to swallow the liquid without choking, but only just. _I didn't say that I loved him,_ she thought. But it came close. She still wasn't truly certain of her feelings for him, and hadn't returned his proclamation of love. He either hadn't noticed, reckoning that her actions spoke louder than her words (two months of occasional furtive snogging had to count for something), or he was giving her time to work up to saying the same words he had. 

"Er," she said uncertainly, trying to salvage the situation. Severus looked like he could have been knocked over with a feather. "I certainly don't think Sirius would recognize you. Or the other lads in Gryffindor. You wouldn't want to put them into shock, now would you?" She hoped he couldn't tell that her smile was forced now. 

His eyes narrowed as he turned to glance back at the door, and his expression didn't change when he turned to Lily. "Why were they bolting out of here?" he asked, although it almost sounded like a rhetorical question. 

Even though he may not have been expecting an answer, Lily replied, "Dinner, they said, even though that's not for a couple of hours. Sirius and Peter seemed very concerned that Remus might be hungry. Couldn't wait another moment to drag him out of here." 

Then she realized that she shouldn't have said that; now it was obvious that Remus had been visiting her alone and Sirius and Peter had arrived suddenly just to retrieve him from the infirmary. But oddly, Severus didn't seem to notice this small detail. He stared into space, his eyes narrowed still. 

"What are they _really_ up to, do you think?" he said in a musing voice, again almost as though he didn't expect an answer. 

Lily sighed. "Wouldn't I like to know! Sometimes--" Her eyes moved toward Madam Pomfrey's office. "Sometimes," she whispered, "they're out of the dorm _all night_. James, too. Perhaps that's what they're doing tonight. But--but I don't want to get them into trouble. You won't report this, will you Severus?" She took his hand in hers and raised her eyebrows. 

He gazed at her, unable to deny her anything. 

"Of course not, Lily. Of course not." 

* * * * *

The Gryffindor common room was a boisterous place just after the last class of the day; students were tired of the drudgery of school work and welcomed a respite in the form of Exploding Snap, chess, gobstones, or just plain pointless chatter. Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew stood in the open portrait hole; Remus Lupin leaned against the side of the hole, looking unwell. Sirius and Peter waved their arms, trying to get James Potter's attention. James was near the fireplace, immersed in a conversation with another member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, oblivious to his friends' panic. 

Suddenly, the boy to whom he was speaking noticed Sirius' waving arms. "I think they're trying to get your attention," he said, gesturing with his head toward the portrait hole. James' turned his head, finally seeing Sirius, Peter and Remus. Swallowing, he said abruptly, "Thank you. I--I need to go now." He tried not to run to the doorway, walking instead in a loping, ungainly gait which was clearly trying _not_ to be a run. 

None of them noticed the interest that the second-year boys took in the departure of the sixth year boys. They were sitting at a table near the windows, supposed to be doing revision, but actually playing Exploding Snap. Alex Wood raised his eyebrows at Bill Weasley, sitting across from him, and nudged Orville Simpson with his elbow. Perry Booth was to Bill's right, and Rembert Leonard was to Booth's right. They noticed Wood's interest in the older boys and when Alex leaned toward Bill and whispered, "What do you suppose _that_ was about?" it was Booth who answered. 

"_I_ think they're going down to the Forbidden Forest," he said urgently, also whispering. "I heard Sirius Black talking about it yesterday. Sometimes they sneak out and spend _all night_ in the forest." 

Orville scowled. "Don't be stupid. No one could spend all night in the forest and live to tell about it. Especially not tonight. There're werewolves in there, and there's a full moon tonight. Plus there're other things in there. Not as bad as werewolves, but still....They'd have to be _mad_." 

Leonard's eyes widened at the mention of werewolves. "Maybe they're werewolf _hunters!_ Maybe they're going to _kill_ the werewolves!" 

"Or die trying," Booth added ominously. 

"Sssh!" Bill said suddenly; Leonard and Booth had become far too noisy. "Let's take this conversation elsewhere," he said to the other boys, rising in what he thought was a nonchalant manner. He sauntered to the portrait hole, occasionally checking to see whether any older students, especially prefects, were still busy or noticing that the second-year boys were all leaving together. 

Once in the corridor, they saw flickering shadows some distance ahead of them, round a corner, and hung back for a moment, worried that the older boys might realize they were being followed. When the shadows were no longer visible, they moved, occasionally stopping if they drew too close to the other group. 

James took in Remus' appearance, concerned, and very upset with himself for forgetting the time. Remus was loping along, unable to walk with a completely human gait now, and James worried that he might transform too soon. They had to at least get him out of the castle so that the three of them could transfigure themselves without anyone seeing. They could transfigure within the castle if they had to, especially if it came down to a choice between letting Remus hurt someone and risking having it known that they were illegal Animagi. But they would rather not have it come to that. 

James grabbed Remus' arm when he paused for a moment and sniffed the air. 

"Come _on_! Don't stop!" James said impatiently, even though they were running late because they'd had to hunt him down. 

"Someone's following us," Remus said quietly. "Someone who smells like the Gryffindor common room. More than one." 

"So someone from Gryffindor is going down to the library or something. So what?" Sirius said impatiently. "We have to get you outside _now_." 

Remus let them hustle him down the stairs, down down down, until they were finally in the entrance hall. And then they were out on the grounds and bolting for the safe haven of the Whomping Willow. Remus was practically running on all fours now, and he was becoming hairier and hairier. He felt positively feral, although he was still technically in his human form. Every inch of his skin seemed to bristle with animal instinct, instincts which would allow him to hunt down his prey, to outsmart it and corner it, even to toy with it before killing....He was acutely aware of the scents his friends were giving off, scents of poorly-masked fear, scents which made his mouth water as he thought of sinking his teeth into human flesh-- 

_No._ I am still a man. I am not a beast--_yet._

He tore for the Whomping Willow as though his life--and the lives of his friends--depended on it. 

It did. 

Outside, in the night air, there were numerous smells that might mask the scent of five twelve-year-old boys also exiting the castle, their breaths appearing as small grey clouds as they shivered without cloaks in the December evening. 

They saw the older boys running toward the infamous willow tree, and furtively hurried after them, crouching behind shrubbery and tree trunks on the way, should the other boys look back. There was still a very faint light in the western sky and no moon yet to illumine their way. Only the evening star shone in the sky so far, and the silhouettes of the sixth-year boys were difficult to make out in the blue shadows of twilight. 

When they were about twenty feet away, the wild, flailing branches of the tree were hard to distinguish from the gesticulations of the sixth-years. When they had come to within twelve feet, hidden in the shrubbery, they suddenly saw the branches freeze. Bill grasped Alex's arm painfully; Alex froze and turned to Bill, but Bill couldn't see his expression in the dark. In the short time they'd been out of the castle, the sun had set completely and the blue velvet sky was almost completely unrelieved by any light, save for the pinprick of bright light that was Venus, plus a few smaller, lesser stars whose names Bill might know were he ever to remain conscious in Astronomy class. 

Cautiously, they began moving again, trying not to step on any twigs or make any kind of sound. Bill had never seen the Whomping Willow still like this. Had one of the sixth-years done that? If so, how? 

He looked up and gasped. The sixth-years were gone. "Where'd they go?" he asked Alex urgently. Alex shrugged. 

"Were you watching?" Bill asked Orville, who shook his head. 

"_I_ was," Booth said, sounding smug. "It looked like they went _into_ the tree. Into the roots, actually. Like going into a tunnel." 

They all stood with their own roots firmly attached to the soil, all of them loath to move closer. It started to become brighter as the moon rose, full and round, and then, from the direction of the Whomping Willow, they heard an unearthly cry. Someone was in an enormous amount of pain. It--it didn't sound quite _human._ Then they heard similar cries coming from the forest. There were two or three all told. Bill's heart was hammering painfully in his chest. 

And then--then they heard it. 

"_Aaa-rooooooo_!" 

A wolf's cry emanated from the willow, reverberating through its trunk and carrying on the chill night air. An answering cry went up from the forest, one, two, three of them, and, realizing what this meant, Bill said to the other boys, "I think we should get inside _now_!" 

He didn't need to tell them twice; in seconds, all five boys were running flat-out back to the castle, struggling to get enough air from the freezing stuff that was filling their lungs. When they had opened the heavy front doors and were safely back in the entrance hall, leaning against the closed door and trying to catch their breaths, they all looked at each other with wild eyes, not saying anything, but clearly all thinking the same thing. 

They went into the Great Hall to wait for the meal, still mute, not one of them willing to voice their fears. 

_Are we living with a werewolf?_ Bill wondered, examining the other boys' faces, unsure whether they'd think him mad for even suggesting this. Then he remembered that the other sixth-year boys had all gone into the willow together. _Are we living with four werewolves?_ was his next thought, which made his heart practically skip a beat. 

When the evening meal finally began, he looked up at the head table, at the headmaster. Would the headmaster let a werewolf into the school? He thought about what he knew concerning Albus Dumbledore. He couldn't imagine him keeping anyone out. If one of the sixth-years was a werewolf--or all of them--they were at least making an effort to be away from humans during the full moon. Bill ate his meal with his head down, listening carefully for snippets of conversation from others, but no one at the Gryffindor table was discussing the sixth-years, or even wondering why they weren't in the Great Hall. The one person who might take notice--Lily Evans--also was not present, but he knew it was because she was in the hospital wing with a broken leg. 

As he prepared for bed that night, Bill went to the dormitory window and looked out over the grounds. The moon floated over the forest, silvering the treetops. Opening the leaded window and letting a blast of night air into the round tower room, he heard, carried clearly on the wind, something he had heard before but never really thought about: the sound of wolves howling. The wolves walked tonight in the forest, where a human would either become food or another werewolf. Bill closed the window again, shivering, but not from the cold. He climbed into his four-poster and closed the hangings. 

But as he lay there, failing to sleep for hours on end, he was certain that, even with the window closed, he could still hear the lonely sound of a wolf's howl. 

And each time, the howl was answered three-fold. 

* * * * *

_Saturday, 12 December, 1976_

As the sun was rising, Sirius, James, Peter and Remus dragged themselves to the front door of the castle and opened it, staggering into the entrance hall. They threw themselves onto the marble stairs, breathing heavily. It had been an exhausting night; they had remained in the Shrieking Shack instead of wandering the grounds or the forest. Sirius had been trying to talk the others into running free (which is what Bill had overheard), but their hasty exit from the castle had meant that none of them had cloaks with them--they'd forgotten. The three Animagi were equipped for staying out in the cold, in their animal forms, but once he turned into a human again, Remus would be shivering and cold, unprotected by fur. 

James looked at Remus, who was quite torn up, despite the fact that the wounds were already starting to heal. Still, he would need some additional help from Madam Pomfrey in order not to look like he'd been through a war--which was exactly what he _had_ h been though. He had been strangely predatory the previous evening, more than usual, struggling, in his wolf form, to get out of the tunnel almost as soon as they were under the willow. It was highly unlikely that he would be able to get through the flailing tree branches, but just in case, James had gouged him with his antlers, little Peter, as a rat, had bitten his wolf's tail, and Sirius had landed a vicious bite on his flank which had finally made Remus turn and retaliate against his friends, chasing them down the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack and away from the tree roots. In his stag form, James had a bad feeling that Remus was particularly agitated because he'd been right about someone following them. He feared that there were humans wandering the grounds, and Remus could smell them. In his stag form, he had a kind of sixth sense when humans were around, and it was going off like mad before they all fled and ran for the shack. It was of utmost importance that Remus not escape the tunnel; the three of them had never actually had to stop Remus from attacking a human in human form. While they assumed, in theory, that they would be able to do this as Animagi, they also hoped that this theory would never be put to the test. 

As if in retaliation for costing him a meal, Remus spent hours on end attacking the three of them, and then biting and scratching himself when he grew tired of that, before beginning another onslaught on his friends. They were all a bit bloodied, although Peter less so than the other boys (as a rat, he made a much smaller target for Remus than James and Sirius). He stood first and made to go up the stairs, not speaking, just groaning with every move he made. Sirius also rose creakily, saying simply, "I could use a shower." He trudged up the stairs after Peter. 

When they were gone, James finally felt like he could move. He looked at Remus and said, "Do you want help getting up to the hospital wing?" The werewolf raised haunted eyes and nodded mutely, and soon the two boys were climbing the stairs, Remus' arm over James' shoulder. At the door to the infirmary, James said, "I think I'll go have a shower, too. I shouldn't go in with you probably. Pomfrey--she'll think we were out together." 

"We were," Remus whispered, glad that the first night of the full moon was over; he thought he'd go mad from being so close to James when they were helping Lily. He was especially afraid that he'd attack his friend when he came stumbling into the common room after his and Lily's love-making had been interruped by his breaking Lily's leg. He was still very keyed up, hadn't obtained his release, and when James was standing so close to him-- 

But that was then. Why was it so difficult for him to stand close to James _now_? He had learned, over the years, not to comment on the way other people smelled in the morning; they couldn't help it, not before showering, and they had no idea how very acute their smell was. Even his friends didn't realize the extent of this ability because the vast majority of the time he kept his opinions of their odors to himself. But now--now James also had an underlying odor of _want_, of _desire_, and Remus felt confused; he'd experienced this strange feeling of being attracted to boys before, but it had always been (he thought) the day before the full moon. He was frightened, standing with James before the infirmary door, frightened that any moment he would reach out for his friend and alienate him forever. _Maybe this gets worse as I get older._ he thought. _Oh, that's bloody brilliant,_ he also thought, sarcastically. _Just what I need._

"Pomfrey knows I am what I am," he said quietly, trying to forget about his desire for James. "But she doesn't know any students know, or that you lot spent the night with me. Go. You're a prefect; you don't want to get into trouble." 

James nodded and watched Remus turn the knob and enter the infirmary. Remus closed the door behind him and leaned on it for a moment, trying to work out how he could desire both James and Lily. But then he reminded himself, _You're a monster. Monsters do vile things...._

"Who's there?" came a sharp voice. Madam Pomfrey emerged from her office, having been up rather early. When she saw who her visitor was, she nodded grimly. "Right. Let's get you sorted out." Remus grimaced; she was never exactly gentle with him. Remus had the distinct impression that she thought it was a dreadful idea to have a werewolf at the school. 

When his wounds were cleaned and dressed, she dismissed him, retreating to her office once more. Remus was about to go, when his eyes fell on Lily, still asleep, her eyes moving slightly beneath her eyelids. He walked to her bed and sat in the visitor's chair, just watching her sleep. Finally, he couldn't help himself; tears running down his face, he said to her, "Oh, Lily. You have no idea how sorry I am I hurt you. I never wanted that to happen. I love you so much. I never told you because I didn't want you to feel awkward; I know you don't love me, you're just helping me as a friend. And that just makes me love you more." He put his head down on the bed, his tears wetting the sheets. After a while, he rose and leaned over to kiss her on the forehead. "That's right, sleep well, love." Gazing lovingly at her, he turned to leave, not at all surprised to see James standing in the doorway of the infirmary (he had both heard and smelt him). He wiped the remaining tears from his face and nodded at his friend, but didn't say anything before leaving. 

James watched the door close, then went to sit by Lily, where Remus had been. He also watched her sleep, wondering how she felt about Remus. Was she really just "helping" him as "a friend?" Or was she also hiding her feelings? He could swear he'd seen her gazing at Remus with looks that spoke of far more than friendship. He felt a pang of jealousy again, and tried to push it down. _I love Bonnie,_ he reminded himself. Yet he continued to watch Lily Evans sleep as if fascinated; he watched her chest rise and fall, he watched her frown or smile as her dreams warranted. 

Lily's dream had started as a lovely summer outing. She and Remus were in an open field, with a picnic spread on the grass. They were sitting close together, feeding each other strawberries, inevitably following up each mouthful with a kiss. But then one of the strawberries was no longer a strawberry; it was a piece of bleeding flesh. Lily recoiled from it, but Remus casually took it in his mouth, blood running down his chin as he chewed the raw meat as casually as if it really were a piece of fruit. Then she saw that all of the picnic foods spread on the blanket were grisly pieces of dead animals, or, in the case of the main course, a whole goat that had been ripped open, its viscera on display. Lily held her hand to her mouth, feeling her gorge rising, but when she turned back to Remus, he was once again eating strawberries. A glance at the picnic blanket revealed the food she'd seen before, cold (cooked) chicken, a pie, some salad. No dead animals in sight (other than the chicken). 

And now Remus was holding her in his arms and kissing her, saying, "Oh, Lily. You have no idea how sorry I am I hurt you. I never wanted that to happen. I love you so much. I never told you because I didn't want you to feel awkward; I know you don't love me, you're just helping me as a friend. And that just makes me love you more." She thought her heart would break from happiness; he seemed so _real_. She could _hear his voice._ And she even thought she felt a kiss on her forehead.... 

But when she swam up to consciousness from the depths of her dream and managed to open her eyes, she found James Potter sitting by her bedside, his head on the sheets as though he'd grown tired of waiting for her to wake. She shook his shoulder gently. "James? Wake up, James. How long have you been here?" 

He yawned and stretched. "I don't know. I--I came to check on you around dawn. I couldn't sleep anyway." 

She peered into his haggard face. "You don't look as though you've slept a wink all night. Were you just tossing and turning?" 

"Erm--yes. Terrible insomnia. I don't know how I'm going to get through the day...." 

"Perhaps Madam Pomfrey can give you something to--" 

"Oh, no, Lily. I'll be all right. It's Saturday, anyway. I can sleep when I like. Well, except for Quidditch practice later....I'm sure I'll be fine." 

He sounded like he was protesting too much, but she relented, despite the nagging feeling that there was something he wasn't telling her. She thought of how _real_ Remus' voice had sounded in her dream. Yet it was James, not Remus, who was sitting by her bedside. They had very different voices, different accents. And yet--what if it had been James speaking to her while she was asleep, and in her dream she simply mistook the voice for Remus'? 

"James," she said suddenly. "When I was asleep--you didn't--you didn't _talk_ to me at all, did you?" 

"No, Lily. Why?" 

She smiled ruefully and shook her head. "No reason." She examined James carefully. It couldn't have been _him_, could it? Had she just imagined it was Remus' voice? Had it really been James? No, that was ridiculous. He was in love with Bonnie....She and James were just friends. 

That was a pleasant thought. James was her friend. A friend, a nice uncomplicated friend. 

"So," she asked him, "what are you and Sirius going to do during the hols?" 

He looked startled. "Oh, um, actually, we've been invited down to Cardiff after Boxing Day, to visit my Great Aunt Othalie. My dad's side of the family." 

"What's Cardiff like? My parents' families are from Wales, but so long ago I've never actually been there...." 

As they talked, James began to appear more alert, and soon they had each forgotten about Remus and their other concerns. They were just two friends talking and laughing, enjoying each other's company. 

At least--that's what Severus Snape hoped, as he watched them from the doorway of the infirmary, carrying a tray with breakfast for him and for Lily. He quietly closed the door again and departed, suddenly no longer hungry for the food he was carrying. His presence had gone completely unnoticed by either James Potter or Lily Evans. 

* * * * * Join the Yahoo discussion group for this fic! Click on the above link to my author page to find the url. 

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	6. Cataclysm

**Title:** The Lost Generation (1975-1982) (06/20)  
**Author name:** Barb  
**Author email:** psychic_serpent@yahoo.com  
**Category:** Mystery  
**Sub Category:** Romance  
**Keywords:** MWPP Lily Snape Bill Weasley  
**Rating:** R  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA, Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent, Harry Potter and the Time of Good Intentions  
**Summary:** Bill Weasley begins his education at Hogwarts in 1975, in the middle of Voldemort's reign of terror. He never suspects that the Gryffindor prefects he looks up to, Lily Evans and James Potter, will eventually have a son who saves the wizarding world, nor that the Weasley family will eventually play an important role in the Dark Lord's fall. All he knows is that in a very scary wizarding world, Hogwarts is a safe haven where he has always longed to be--until, that is, there are whispers of vampires and werewolves, of Death Eaters and traitors, and a Seeress pronounces a Prophecy which will shake the wizarding world to its very foundations....  
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.   
**Author notes:** _The Lost Generation_ is the prequel to the _Psychic Serpent Trilogy_, which begins with _Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent_. There are events and characters mentioned which appear in other books in the trilogy (such as two Weasley sisters who were born between Charlie and Percy). While it is not absolutely necessary to read the trilogy first (the third book is in progress) it may be helpful in some respects. A FAQ file concerning the entire story arc is also available on the Psychic_Serpent Yahoo Group website.  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**The Lost Generation**

(1975-1982)

Chapter Six

** Cataclysm**

  
  
  


_Saturday, 12 December, 1976_

  
Remus Lupin reminded himself for the tenth time not to twist his robes in his fingers like a frightened first-year. He stood straight, looking Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey in the eye, in turn. Being called up on the carpet was unpleasant and uncomfortable, but it would be far worse to say anything that implicated his friends. When the headmaster had asked to speak to him after lunch, Remus had feared the worst. What he got came very close. 

Madam Pomfrey was looking particularly unfriendly. "I can't believe I trusted you, that I treated you like an adult. And this is how you respond! Gross irresponsibility!" Her voice rose as she spoke; she was very nearly shrieking. 

Remus swallowed. "Yes, ma'am," he said meekly. He looked at the headmaster, who appeared very stern. The wizard was silent, leaning against the wall of the matron's office, watching with crossed arms. 

"I could not believe that I came in here _at_ sunset and learned from Miss Evans that you'd been at her bedside mere _minutes_ before! Since you've shown that you can't do a simple thing like keep track of time on the nights of the full moon, I will go back to escorting you down to the willow _myself,_ as I did when you were in first and second year. If you are going to behave like a large baby, you shall be treated like one. We shall be going well before sunset, too, even if you miss your last class during the winter, so we don't have you wandering about the castle, getting ready to transform at any moment...." 

"Yes, ma'am." His response was nearly inaudible. 

"I mean," she continued ranting, "think of the people you could have hurt! Miss Evans, for a start--" Remus' lip shook with the effort of trying not to cry, since he'd already hurt Lily; "and I understand that your friends helped you to get down to the willow in time. What if you'd attacked one of _them_? How would you feel then? Is that any way to repay them for befriending you? Although why they _remained_ your friends after finding out that you're--" 

"That's enough, Poppy," Professor Dumbledore said, standing up straight suddenly, his voice very firm. His stern gaze was fixed on _her_, now. Remus Lupin had been in the infirmary often enough that he knew that Madam Pomfrey was not a member of the Hogwarts staff who was timid about speaking her mind to the headmaster. He'd heard her disagree with him many a time, while Dumbledore always responded very levelly, whether he was ceding to her wishes or gently telling her off. 

"Please excuse us, Poppy. I will walk Remus back to Gryffindor Tower. This afternoon, at three-thirty, he will meet you in the entrance hall and you will escort him to the willow. Since it is Saturday, we don't have to worry about any missed classes, either. That should be early enough even with the little bit of daylight we get these days. All right?" 

She agreed, grudgingly, as though she thought the only sensible thing to do was to toss Remus out of Hogwarts on his ear (or find the nearest silver object and put him out of his misery). They left the office, the headmaster's arm around his shoulder. When they were in the corridor outside the hospital wing, Dumbledore stepped back and eyed him shrewdly, but also looking far kinder than he had while Madam Pomfrey was speaking to him. "When did your friends find out?" he asked quietly. 

"I told them. Years ago. I--I feel very agitated just before the full moon. The day before. They noticed. I--I had to tell them. We all live together. How could I keep that from them? And being missing three nights a month was getting harder and harder to explain. I mean, they were starting to wonder how I could need to be in the hospital wing three nights running, you know? They're not stupid. And--and they're the best friends anyone could ever have. They never once--" 

Unbidden, the tears leaked slowly out of his eyes, and he drew his sleeve across his face impatiently. Dumbledore nodded at him. "They're good lads. James and Sirius are scamps, of course," he said, his eyes twinkling, and Remus felt a smile pull at the corners of his mouth that, in spite of himself, was starting to make him feel better. "But they're good lads, no doubt about it. They would never turn their backs on a friend." 

"I know that, sir. I know how lucky I am," he answered softly. 

"I was a little worried about Pettigrew for a while," he admitted. 

"Oh, Peter would never tell anyone about me either," Remus said quickly. He remembered how, just the day before, Peter had been the one working hardest to get him out of the infirmary discreetly, while Sirius was uttering a continuous stream of double-entendres and sarcastic asides. He'd had more than one occasion to be grateful for Peter's pragmatism over the last few years. 

"I don't mean that. I was as worried about his having friends as you, when you were in first year. His mother had told me how withdrawn he'd been since she remarried, after his father's death. I was relieved to see that those fears were groundless." 

"Well, that's largely due to James, sir, to tell the truth," Remus admitted, as he had also been guilty, at times, of wanting to exclude Peter. "He won't have anyone left behind." 

Dumbledore smiled knowingly and nodded. "I thought that might be the case, but I didn't want to say." Remus suspected that he might possibly be getting points (although not actual house points) for being honest about his sometimes not wanting to include Peter, but it was hard to tell with Dumbledore sometimes. Even when you thought you were looking into those clear blue eyes and seeing his very soul, he still somehow managed to be inscrutable. 

When they eventually reached Gryffindor Tower, Dumbledore turned to him. "I did not think I was making a mistake to take you as a student at Hogwarts five years ago, and I still do not think it was a mistake." Then his voice became low and chilling, very briefly, as he said, "_Do not make me change my mind._" 

Remus swallowed again, nodding. "Yes, sir," he said softly. Dumbledore's smile spread across his face again. 

"Good, good. Madam Pomfrey will expect to see you in the entrance hall at three-thirty. _Alone._" 

Remus stopped short, having been about to give the password to the Fat Lady. "Alone?" 

"Yes. Madam Pomfrey is the only escort you shall have." Remus looked into Dumbledore's eyes. _How much did he know?_

"Yes. Of course. Yes, sir." 

When he was finally in the common room, James and Sirius fell on him, patting his back. Peter hung back, smiling timidly, and Remus, feeling guilty, went out of his way to reach out for Peter's hand to shake it, smiling warmly at him. _His mates._ He'd meant what he'd said to Dumbledore. _The best friends anyone could ever have._ It was true. Who could ever have such good friends? 

Then he saw Lily sitting across the room with Cecilia, her foot propped up on a hassock. She had been released from the infirmary early that morning, not long after breakfast. Her leg was mended, although she wasn't to put a lot of stress on it right away, at least not for another twenty-four hours. He longed to stride across the room and take her in his arms, tell her he loved her, as he had in the infirmary. But he knew now that he shouldn't. He shouldn't even ever let her be a "friend" to him before the full moon. _Never again_. He still couldn't quite believe that he'd broken her leg. _It had to stop,_ he knew. He was just too dangerous. He was lucky he hadn't broken her neck. 

He turned his back to Lily and explained to his friends that Pomfrey was going to be escorting him down to the willow. Sirius shrugged and smirked. "That's fine. The thing is--we'll already be in there. This is almost too easy. If you're going at three-thirty, we'll just go at three. We'll use the Invisibility Cloak, so no one will notice." 

"Well--people are bound to notice that the willow's branches stop three times...." 

"No, it'll just be twice," Peter said quietly, his eyes narrowed as he thought. "James and I can go first. We can both fit under the Cloak, but three would be pushing it. Then James can go back for Sirius. And all three of us can wait for you in the Shrieking Shack. Pomfrey won't come all that way, you said she never used to when you were younger. And it's the weekend, so we're not going to be missing classes." 

James nodded. "Peter's right. There's no reason we can't be with you tonight as usual." 

Remus thought he might be on the verge of tears again, but he managed to stifle it this time. "Right," he whispered. "But--" 

"We'll stop in the kitchens first," Sirius assured him. "I'll have the elves practically _begging_ me to take freshly-slaughtered chickens and joints of beef. We'll have a regular feast tonight!" 

"And--" James said, raising his eyebrows. 

"And some feed corn for you, of course," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. He often wished that James had an Animagus form that was a carnivore, like him and Peter, but he didn't criticize this often, as his antlers had proven to be effective weapons on more than one occasion. It had been strange to eat raw meat, the first time he'd tried it, in his Animagus form, but he was used to it now, and it was something that seemed strangely separate from his existence as a human. Sometimes he forgot he'd been wandering the night or spending time in the Shrieking Shack with his friends in the form of a dog; he often remembered being with them in human form, even though he knew that wasn't right. But he never imagined he was human when he was eating raw meat as a dog. Instead, he imagined at those times that he _was_ a dog, and that the dream was having been human. 

The four friends never noticed the way the second-year boys, across the room, watched their every move, and listened attentively for every word they could catch.... 

* * * * *

_Sunday, 13 December, 1976_

  
The wolf's howl rent the night, making Bill sit up in his bed suddenly. 

"It's time!" Alex Wood hissed to him soon after. 

"Are you sure about this?" Orville Simpson whispered in the darkness. 

"Yes. It's after midnight, late enough that no one will question us for being in the sixth-year dorm. Including the sixth-years, as they're not there, anyway." 

"Are you sure?" Peregrin Booth asked now, instead of Orville. 

"Yes," Alex said adamantly. "And when they return in the morning, we'll be in there, in their beds, pointing at them and saying, `We know what you are!' And they'll have to admit it!" 

There was a silence. Then suddenly, Rembert Leonard's treble voice said softly, "Why?" 

"Why?" Alex said scornfully, impatiently. "Why _what_?" 

"Why will they have to admit it? Why couldn't they just deny it?" 

"Because we'll have them dead to rights, that's why, you prat! Stop asking stupid questions!" But secretly, Bill thought Leonard was right. What was to prevent them from lying? They were just a bunch of second-years, after all. They weren't even old enough to go to Hogsmeade on weekends, if any of the students were ever allowed to go again. 

They crept up to the sixth-year dorm, pushing the door open cautiously. 

"_Lumos_," Bill said quietly, lighting his wand then holding it high to see around the room. 

"Erm," Booth said uncertainly. "Is there any reason we can't just light the candles?" 

"Idiot!" Alex sneered. "What if they look up and see a light in the window? They'll know someone is here!" 

Bill frowned at him in the wandlight. "They'll know we're here when they find us in their beds in the morning, too." 

"Oh, all right--" Alex conceded. Bill pointed his wand at the sconces flanking the doorway; he could see the brackets clearly in the moonlight streaming in the windows. Two candles didn't shed much light on the room, but it was enough that they didn't need the wandlight any more. "And--" Alex said, looking around the room with a smirk on his face now, "we can do a little snooping around before we turn in for the night." He looked eagerly at the trunks sitting at the foot of each bed, and at the wardrobes and the cabinets next to each boy's bed. 

Booth wavered, "I don't know. Waiting here to talk to them is one thing. They really won't like it if we go through their stuff. They're in sixth year! Think what they could do to us..." 

Orville guffawed. "Yeah, only it's the sixth year _girls_ I wouldn't want to cross. Especially Evans. Have you heard those stories about Sirius Black, after he tried to kiss her?" Bill saw Alex look at Orville strangely for a moment, then turn away, reddening for some reason. Bill thought of something then. 

"Well, the sixth-year boys are out _there_ tonight, aren't they?" Bill reminded them. "Under a _full moon._ They're not exactly to be trifled with. We are _not_ taking a chance and touching anything of theirs, do you hear me?" 

He looked sternly at the other boys. Alex had been behaving like the one in charge, but Bill didn't care. If Alex wasn't going to be responsible, Bill was going to step in. He remembered the map that he knew the older boys had. He wished he knew whether they had it with them; if they did, and they were using it, it was just possible that they knew the younger boys were in their room. Bill sincerely hoped, as they were probably in no state to be consulting maps, that their presence would go undetected until morning. 

Alex stepped up to Bill. "Oh, we're not touching anything, are we?" he said, challenging Bill, who was still grasping his wand. Bill put the tip under Alex's chin and glared back at him. 

"That's right, unless you want to look like someone's been trying experimental charms on you," Bill said, trying to keep his voice even. The two friends stared at each other, unblinking, and the other boys held their breaths, waiting. Finally, Alex Wood stepped back from Bill, rubbing his chin. 

"All right, all right. Kill all of our fun. See if I care." 

"Get into a bed. And _don't_ touch anything else." 

Bill clambered onto James Potter's bed, although he didn't know it, and Orville and Booth each claimed a bed; that left Rembert Leonard and Alex Wood standing uncertainly, staring at the remaining bed. They dove for it at the same time, Leonard winning by a hair. However, this had no sooner occurred than Alex was grasping the boy's hair in his fingers, trying to pull him off the mattress. "Oh, no you don't! That's _my_ bed--" They struggled, Leonard having put his arms around one of the bedposts, holding on for dear life, his eyes practically popping out of his head as Alex pulled on his hair even harder. 

"Stop it!" Bill yelled at them, pulling out his wand again. "Enough!" The two boys separated and stood next to the bed, panting, arms at their sides. 

Orville shrugged, sitting up in the bed he'd claimed. "I don't mind sharing. You can come on over, Alex. It's pretty big--" 

Alex Wood looked tempted for a moment, but, as though he remembered himself, he recoiled in horror. "Are you crazy? What do you think I am?" His eyes were very round and his voice full of derision. 

"What do you mean by that?" Orville said, frowning. "What do you think _I_ am? I'm just trying to end a fight and get to the sleeping part of the evening. Anything wrong with that?" 

"Well, I'm not sharing a bed with anyone." His voice shook. "You can share with Booth," he said, nodding at Leonard. The other boy's face clouded over and he put his pointed nose very close to Alex's. 

"Oh, so it's all right for me and Perry--" 

Booth's exasperated voice erupted: "Oh, for god's sake, Bert. Just get over here and let Wood have his precious bed. Don't know what he's so panicked about. Even if any of us _did_ fancy boys, he'd be lucky if any of us touched him with a ten-foot-broomstick. You can have the bed to yourself, Wood, and do your wanking while thinking about Mary Ann Boxwood all night if you like. Just close the curtains and use a silencing spell, please. Don't treat the rest of us to your noise, for once." 

Bill was surprised; this was very daring, for Booth. There was more of an edge to his voice than usual. Alex _had_ been giving him a _very_ hard time lately. He sounded distinctly like someone who was sick of bullying and wasn't going to take it any more. Bill was starting to get the impression that Alex should be very, very careful around Booth in future. As in the next five minutes. 

Alex, however, was looking triumphant about his having won the bed, and climbed in, pulling the covers up to his chin. He had evidently decided to ignore Booth's taunts about Mary Ann Boxwood. All five boys settled down and let sleep steal over them, while the wolves howled in the forest and the moon traveled across the sky.... 

* * * * *

"_What the hell_?" 

Bill shook his head and tried to open his eyes; he saw that the door to the room was open and the four sixth-year boys were standing just inside the doorway, looking both astonished and indignant. He wasn't sure, but it might have been Sirius Black's voice that had uttered the exclamation. Bill was confused; why were the sixth-years barging into their dorm? 

_Oh, right_, he thought. _We're in_ their _dorm_. 

Now it was Peter Pettigrew, of all people, who was advancing on them with his wand drawn. Bill was suddenly feeling awake, seeing that, and he scrambled out of the bed and stood before the older boys, standing as straight ant tall as possible (he was a good five or six inches taller than Pettigrew) and drawing his own wand. 

"Just a minute!" he said loudly, grateful that his voice wasn't cracking. (He really hoped his voice would be done changing soon.) "We're the ones who should be saying `What the hell?' to _you._ After all, _you've_ been out all night. A night with a full moon. A night that was also full of _wolves' howls._" 

The four older boys all froze and looked at one another, and Bill felt his heart leap within him. _They know we know!_ he exulted. _We were right!_ Alex and Orville and the others climbed out of their beds and came to stand with Bill, presenting a united front. 

In a wavering voice, Pettigrew looked up at Bill and said, "I don't know _what_ you are talking about." 

Bill looked at him, seeing the fear there. "Oh, I think you do. You see, we've figured out what you are." 

James was looking at him uncertainly. "Er--who exactly do you mean by `you?'" He was looking very dodgy, Bill thought. He frowned. 

"Who do you think? All of you. We know what you all are." 

James looked at the tall boy before him, wondering whether it would be better to pretend that they were all werewolves, as the younger boys seemed to believe, or to deny everything, rather than admit that Remus was the werewolf. James swallowed. "You do, do you? All right, then. What are we?" He had trouble getting the words out. 

Sirius gave him a backhanded slap on the arm and James slapped his arm right back. "What the hell do you--" Sirius started hissing at him. 

"Shut up," James silenced him, glancing briefly at Remus. He didn't dare do more than that, as he was afraid of Remus' condition catching their eye. Remus had had a very rough night and was a bit wobbly on his feet. He was so tired, he seemed to just want to sleep, instead of going to see Madam Pomfrey to care for his wounds. James turned to Bill again. "All right. Tell us, if you've got it all figured out." 

Alex smirked and blurted it out, not waiting for Bill. "You lot are werewolf hunters! Every month, you go down to the forest, or wait under the Whomping Willow and then come out. We've seen you taking raw meat for bait. Although I suppose you use yourselves for bait, as well. Damn risky, but I suppose that's how it's done." Alex grinned, very proud of himself. He had been the one to come up with this idea. After he'd laid it out, only Bill was punching holes in it, and even he eventually came round and decided that it made more sense than his proposal (that the four older boys were themselves werewolves). After all, werewolves were dark creatures. Dumbledore wouldn't let one in the school, surely? Let alone _four_? 

Peter collapsed on a trunk and sighed. "It's a fair cop." He looked out of the corner of his eye at the other boys. 

Sirius frowned. "What the hell--" he said again, moving toward Peter, who held up his hand. 

"They've got us, Sirius. We can't deny it any more." He turned to the younger boys and sighed wearily again. "Yes, we're werewolf hunters. You see--my dad was killed by a werewolf. My stepdad is a werewolf hunter. My mum contacted him to get him to find the one that killed my dad, and that's how they met. He's actually a Muggle, but there _are_ Muggles who know about creatures like werewolves and vampires. They don't talk much to other Muggles about this sort of thing. If one of them _tried_ to talk to someone about werewolves and vampires, they'd be locked up in a madhouse faster than you could blink." 

James watched the faces of the younger boys. _Were they buying it?_ he wondered. He motioned to them with his head, looking at Sirius, and Sirius stepped forward now, starting to regale the younger boys with their exploits as werewolf hunters. James knew Sirius was talented enough with make up several dozen convincing-sounding lies to distract them while he did want he needed to do. He stood behind Remus while Sirius went on and on, searching his pockets. All he had were some chicken bones he'd retrieved from the Shrieking Shack, to use in Potions class. He quickly transfigured one of the bones into a long silver-colored sword, and another into a scabbard for it. He stepped out from behind Remus and approached Alex Wood. Drawing the sword, he held it, point up. The younger boys all swallowed, seeing it. 

"This is what we use, you know," he said in an eerie voice. "Does the trick cleanly. And then--no more werewolf." He felt rather than saw Remus shudder behind him. "However--if you lot ever breathe one word of this--" 

Wood swallowed, and he saw that Booth, Leonard and Simpson also looked petrified. Weasley, on the other hand, was looking at James with narrowed eyes. He seemed unconvinced. 

"Don't worry!" Booth cried as the other four boys bolted for the door. "We won't!" 

They were gone, elbowing past each other to get out of the dorm. Bill remained, gazing at James' sword shrewdly. He put his hand into his pocket, wrapping his fingers around his wand. The older boys looked at him uncertainly; he could see doubt flickering in their eyes. 

"I'm not like them," he said softly, meeting their eyes one at a time, and then landing on Remus Lupin, who, he had just noticed, was looking as though he'd gotten into a fight with the Hogwarts Express and lost. He moved his eyes back to James Potter. "I don't believe you're werewolf hunters. And I don't believe that that's a silver sword." He swiftly pulled his wand out of his pocket and pointed it at the weapon in James' hand. "_Finite incantatem!_" 

Immediately, James was revealed to be holding two chicken bones, instead of the gleaming sword the other second-years had seen. He grimaced, dropping the bones and looking at Weasley, who was far too clever for his own good. "If you don't think we're werewolf hunters, what _do_ you think we are?" James asked him softly. Bill looked at Remus again and relaxed his grip on his wand. Remus looked worse, if that was possible, and Bill swallowed. He knew now. The difference between Remus Lupin and the others was very obvious. He looked at James again. 

"I think you're good friends," he said quietly. "Very good friends." 

Nothing else was said. They nodded at him; a mutual, unspoken understanding was born at that moment. Remus fell to the floor and James and Sirius whirled on him, lifting him up and, staggering with him to one of the beds, heaving him onto the mattress and pulling the covers over him. While they were doing this, Bill walked to the door. His hand was on the knob when Sirius panicked and suddenly said, "Weasley! The others--I mean will you tell them--?" 

"Don't worry. I'll tell them not to spread it around that you're werewolf hunters," he said with a lopsided smile. Sirius smiled back at him and nodded. 

"Good, good. Just checking." 

When he'd gone, James said to Sirius, "He's all right, is Weasley." 

Sirius agreed, before collapsing on his own bed. Peter watched James get into bed, too, thinking about this exchange. He didn't trust the second-years--any of them, including Bill Weasley. He also didn't care for how quickly and easily Weasley had insinuated himself into James' and Sirius' good graces. They were _his_ friends, even though it was partly because of James insisting that they not exclude him. _Well, Mr. Weasley,_ he thought as he climbed into bed himself. _We'll just see how much they like you when you turn out to be more of a rat than I am_.... 

* * * * *

_Friday, 19 March, 1977_

  
Bill was walking back to Gryffindor Tower somewhat late, after losing track of time while working in the library. He was having a dreadful time getting enough written for Binns' History of Magic essay; it was supposed to be three-and-a-half feet, and he had only just cleared twenty-three inches. Madam Pince had finally kicked him out and he was half-way along the third-floor corridor when, up ahead, Mrs. Norris turned the corner and started walking toward him with that slow, deliberate, rolling gait. His heart in his throat, Bill slipped into an empty classroom to avoid running into Filch and getting a detention (the encounter right before the Christmas holiday in his first year was still very fresh in his mind). He listened for Filch's footsteps to recede, his heart in his throat. As he passed, he heard him speaking to his cat. 

"What is it, my pet? Is there someone in this corridor who shouldn't be?" 

Bill thought he might very well be the first thirteen-year-old on record to die from a heart attack. _Don't come in here,_ he thought desperately. _Don't come in here, don't come in here...._

But the footsteps went past the room where he was hiding, causing him to breathe a sigh of relief. After a time, it seemed very quiet in the corridor, and Bill hoped that Filch might be gone. 

He _was_ gone, but some other people, who might have been the original reason for Filch thinking someone was about, had come out of hiding, and were now standing around a statue of a hump-backed, one-eyed witch. Bill only opened the door a crack, enough to see who was standing there, looking around furtively. 

It was Black, Potter, Pettigrew and Lupin. Bill grimaced. _I should have known,_ he thought, wishing he were in sixth year, just because the four of them seemed to get into _everything._ He remembered confronting them in their dorm. He'd been frightened at first, and instead wound up wishing that _his_ friends were more like the four older boys. What were the four of them up to now? he wondered. The full moon had been almost two weeks earlier. He'd watched them from a window in Gryffindor Tower, every full moon for the previous three months, sneaking down to the willow before Madam Pomfrey came along, escorting Lupin, a disapproving frown on her face. He knew _what_ they were doing but not _how_ they were doing it. It was obvious that all four of them _weren't_ werewolves. He noticed now how Lupin, before the full moon, grew noticeably more hirsute and agitated. Somehow, they'd managed to find a way to be with him. They weren't worried, it seemed, about anything but being discovered. They clearly weren't afraid of their friend, but concerned for him. 

Through the crack between the door and the jamb, he watched, fascinated, as James stood behind the statue and touched his wand to the witch's hump, saying, "_Dissendium._" The statue opened up, creating a passage large enough for each boy to pass through, which they did; first Remus and Peter, then Sirius and James. When all four of them had vanished, the hump closed slowly again. Bill was frozen in amazement, and then he was glad of this, because two people he had not expected at all came round the corner, and on top of everything else, they were _Slytherins_. 

"I tell you, they came this way!" Snape said sharply to the other boy, who was looking at Snape distastefully, his eyes half-lidded. Bill thought he might be the sixth-year Slytherin prefect. 

"Yes, so you said _many times..._" 

"Look!" Snape said now, seeing the witch's hump still slightly open. Even as he approached it, the hump slid closed the rest of the way. When he reached it, the statue looked like solid stone again, and Snape ran his fingers over it frantically, poking the nose and the eyes, in case these were buttons that would open the secret chamber. The prefect watched him poke and prod the witch, his mouth twisting with amusement. 

"Would you two like to be alone? If I'd known you were planning to bring me along on your _date_, Snape, I'd have brought one of my own," he drawled at the tall, hook-nosed boy. 

Snape whirled on him. "Looks to _me_ like you have both of your hands with you, _Iggy,_" Snape responded snidely, making the prefect swell like a bullfrog. Bill winced; Slytherins did _not_ pull any punches. Snape turned back to the statue. 

"They use this to get out of the castle, I'm _certain_ of it," he hissed at Karkaroff, who stood with his arms crossed, glaring at Snape skeptically. 

Down in the tunnel, Remus Lupin stopped and put his hand on the nearest arm and squeezed. It turned out to be Sirius. 

"Ouch! What are you trying to do to me, Remus?" 

"Don't you hear them?" he asked, loosening his grip; then he realized that of course they couldn't hear the voices. 

"Hear who?" Peter asked nervously. 

Remus sighed, feeling again the burden of his heightened senses, even when he wasn't a wolf. "Voices, up there in the corridor. One of them said _Iggy._" 

"Who?" James asked, mystified. 

"I've heard some people call Karkaroff that." 

Sirius swore. "Brilliant. Bloody brilliant. What the hell are we going to do now?" 

"Give me the map," Peter said suddenly. Without a word, Sirius handed it to him. "Can someone give me a bloody light?" he asked, irritated. James immediately lit his wand and held it over the parchment while Peter activated it. Slowly, the familiar lines spread themselves over the parchment, drawing the map of Hogwarts Castle. Peter moved the parchment under James' wand until the light was directly over their location; then they saw that in the corridor above them there were two dots labeled _Severus Snape_ and _Igor Karkaroff._

"_Snape_," Sirius hissed venomously. "I should have known." 

"Fishing expedition," James said, noticing that he hadn't brought just anyone with him but a prefect. "Trying to catch us out." Snape had been very, very annoying since early February, hanging about them and in the corridor outside Gryffindor Tower whenever there was a full moon. Spending those nights with Remus had begun to resemble work more than anything else, because they had to work so hard to avoid Snape, and they'd been champing at the bit to see _something_ other than the inside of the castle or the Shrieking Shack. Finally, they'd decided to sneak out and have some fun on an evening that was chosen specifically because there _wasn't_ a full moon, so that Remus would be able to join in the fun as well. 

"What are we going to do now?" Remus asked, echoing Sirius' earlier words. It was Sirius who answered him. 

"What we were going to do all along. Go to Honeydukes, now that they're closed for the night; light the fire so we can go to the Leaky Cauldron, which will be so crowded with Friday night business, no one will notice the four of us going through the street-side door to Muggle London, where we will have ourselves a _night on the town,_ as planned. I didn't go through hell and high water to get this Floo powder from McGonagall's office for nothing. I had to make her think I didn't _know_ she was standing right there when Aurelia and I started snogging, and then I had to pretend I was upset about the detention, and I had to hope that Peter's diversion would take her out of the office long enough to nick enough Floo powder for all of us to get to London and back. Aurelia's hacked off at me now, too, because McGonagall sent her to Sprout, and Sprout gave her detention as well, for `creating a public spectacle.' After all that, we are _definitely_ going. Look at them," he said, pointing at the parchment; "they're still just standing around the statue. They haven't a clue how it works....We don't have to worry about them. They're too incompetent to be a threat," he said authoritatively. 

Peter squinted at the map, noticing another dot besides Snape and Karkaroff and in addition to the moving dot that was Filch, now in the entrance hall. _This_ dot was near the door of a classroom that was very close to the humpbacked witch. 

"Here, now," he said softly. "Here's someone who's not quite as incompetent as our Slytherin friends...." 

He held the map so that the other boys could see what he'd seen. "Weasley!" Sirius spat vehemently. "What's he want to be there for? You don't--you don't think he _saw_ us coming down here, do you?" he asked no one in particular. 

"I do," Peter said, looking Sirius in the eye. Whose side would he be on, his mate's or the stupid little second-year's? 

James glanced at the map. "But look--he's not coming out of hiding and telling the Slytherins what they need to know. If he was snooping around, trying to get the goods on us, wouldn't he have come out of the classroom by now and told them how to open the witch? He's hiding from them too. He's just as worried about being caught." 

Peter looked at the dots. "Maybe. Or maybe, if he tells them, Karkaroff will get the credit, since he's a prefect. I bet Weasley would like to be the one who brings us down." 

James frowned in the dim light. "That doesn't sound like Weasley. I don't think he--" 

"How well do you know him?" Sirius asked, making Peter smirk; he hadn't had to do it himself. "What makes you think he wouldn't sell his grandmother for the chance to get points?" 

"He hasn't told anyone about Remus, has he? And if he gets points by putting other Gryffindors into hot water, he'll also be _losing_ our house points. That doesn't make any sense," James reasoned. 

Remus rolled his eyes. He'd been listening to Snape and Karkaroff above them with half an ear. "Listen, they don't know what they're doing. Let's just go. Is there any point to standing around here all night arguing about this? At least, if anyone's going to turn us in, we can say we've had a time tonight, right?" 

Sirius slapped him on the back. "That's the spirit, Remus. I say we go to London, find a taxi driver who can take us directly to the nearest place that has some birds dancing, wearing as little clothing as possible--" 

James rolled his eyes and started walking along the passage toward Honeydukes, while the others followed. "Blimey, Sirius, you're not going to be satisfied until you're surrounded by naked girls, are you?" He thought of Bonnie, who, when they were alone together, never actually removed all of her clothes. _And_ she'd probably be furious if she knew what he was doing....He shook his head to get her out of it, continuing along the passage. 

Sirius ambled along, smirking. "Why should I be?" He laughed out loud, and then his friends finally laughed with him. "Oh, yes, you're all going to complain bitterly if we're surrounded by naked girls...." 

Remus felt himself color, thinking of Lily. She hadn't been with him since December. He'd made certain of that. He had managed to hide very effectively each of the ensuing months, so that he wouldn't be anywhere near her the day before the full moon. He'd had the map with him, and once or twice, he'd seen her dot near Severus Snape's dot, and then moving closer together, making his throat feel very tight.... 

They continued to walk to Honeydukes, to temporary freedom, while, back in the castle, Bill Weasley held his breath and waited for the Slytherins to leave. 

Severus Snape continued to prod the statue for a while, but finally gave up. _What am I going to tell Lily?_ he wondered. 

His relationship with Lily was very confusing. It wasn't common knowledge that they were seeing each other. Certainly they didn't behave like a couple in public. But when he was alone with Lily....He had always thought she was beautiful, and he had discovered that she was even more beautiful when she was filled with passion, giving herself over to it; unfortunately, she had yet to give herself over to it _completely,_ and he had been feeling more and more frustrated about this, although he never pressured her in any way. After she would withdraw from him, panting a little and saying, "I think we should stop, Severus," he would immediately nod and accede to her wishes. It was after one such time, almost three months earlier, that she had said, "I just wish I knew where they go when they're sneaking around at night...." They'd both been silent for some time, her head pillowed on his chest as she ran her finger up and down his sternum idly, her hand slipping inside his unbuttoned shirt. 

"Who?" he had asked her. She had explained that she was talking about her so-called friends, the ones who were excluding her and sneaking around without her. 

"If you ever hear or see anything, you'll tell me, right?" she asked him anxiously. 

He had immediately agreed, and since then he'd dedicated a good deal of time to knowing where Potter, Black, Pettigrew and Lupin were whenever they weren't in class. He felt like he had come so close this night, but the statue of the witch just wasn't giving up her secrets, and Karkaroff was making noises about going back to Slytherin house, so Snape was forced to go along. Before he turned the corner, he looked back at the stone figure. 

_I'll find out what they're up to if it kills me._

* * * * *

_Saturday, 20 March, 1977_

  
They were back in their dorm; it was five o'clock in the morning, and they were all exhausted. It had been quite a night. They'd gone to pubs, they'd gotten a little tipsy, they'd seen quite a lot of bare flesh, and Sirius had very nearly been knocked out by a man who was poncing for a prostitute whom Sirius hadn't _realized_ was a prostitute. Peter lay back in his bed, staring at the underside of the canopy, thinking about his plan. _It was perfect._ And _then_ we'll see what the others think of Bill Weasley, he thought.... 

It was almost too easy. He lingered while James, Sirius and Remus went down to breakfast, spending a long time in the showers. When he was dressed and he was fairly certain the dorms were empty, he crept into the second-years' room and poked around until he found Bill Weasley's trunk. He located some old parchments he'd written for various classes, finally deciding on a Potions essay and a Transfiguration exam which were several months old, and pocketing these. He returned to his own dorm and secreted these in his trunk before going down to breakfast. 

Later in the day, James and Sirius had gone down to the Quidditch pitch with their brooms, and Remus was napping in the dorm while Peter crept in and carefully collected the parchments from his trunk. After the door closed, Remus looked up in surprise; why should Peter be tiptoeing around the dorm? But then he rolled over, assuming his friend just didn't want to wake him.... 

Peter found a quiet corner of the library and took out a stylus, tracing over the handwriting on the Transfiguration homework with it so that there was a firm impression of the words on the parchment even after he'd wiped it clean of ink with his wand. He took special care to press hard on Bill Weasley's name. Once the parchment was clean, he took out the other essay and carefully copied Bill Weasley's handwriting, but the words were not Bill's, nor would he see them before Professor McGonagall.... 

* * * * *

_Friday, 16 June, 1977_

  
The sun shone down on the grounds of Hogwarts, gilding the grass and trees, sending sunbeams awash with dust motes streaming through the stained-glass windows of the castle, and taunting the students with its promise. Finally, the exams were over, and the third years and up had a Hogsmeade weekend to look forward to. The headmaster had announced it the previous week. No one had left the castle grounds since Easter, but now the depression that had sat like a dark cloud on the castle, due to the months of deprivation, lifted immediately. Everyone walked through the castle with a spring in their steps, even the first and second years, who would have the run of the place with the older students down in the village. 

At least, _most_ of the first and second years were cheered by this announcement (as it made it less likely that the no-Hogsmeade-weekend policy would be a permanent one). The five second-year Gryffindor boys, in particular, lounged around the Gryffindor common room, grumbling amongst themselves. Watching the excitement of the older students was practically unbearable and the castle had never felt more like a prison to them. 

"It's just not fair," Orville Simpson grumbled. "_Everyone_ should get to go. We've _all_ been cooped up." He shuffled a deck of cards repeatedly, the rippling cardboard punctuating his words. Alex Wood watched him carefully. 

Peregrin Booth sighed. "Yeah. I can't believe we can't go until next year. If only there were some way to sneak out of the castle without anyone knowing...." 

Bill saw that Alex had suddenly opened his eyes wide. "Bill!" he said abruptly now. "Orville! I need to talk to you!" 

Orville shrugged. "So talk." 

Alex looked at Booth and Leonard. "_Not here,_" he said pointedly, clearly not wanting to include the other boys. He rose and started walking toward the portrait hole, Orville behind him. Bill followed, looking over his shoulder for a moment, seeing the hurt expressions on the other boys' faces. When they were in the corridor, Bill frowned at Alex. 

"I think you were rude, Alex. Treating Booth and Leonard that way," he said to his friend as soon as the portrait closed. Alex grimaced. 

"Oh, come on, Bill. You're always wanting to include them. Worried your mummy and daddy will think they haven't taught you proper etiquette?" 

Bill went pink. "No. Just thinking how much _I'd_ like to be excluded, which is not at all. Where's the harm?" 

"Here's the harm," Alex hissed at him. "Leonard's a little rat, and Booth is learning to be one. I'll bet one of _them_ gave that letter to McGonagall about the sixth-years and framed you for it. How easy would it be for one of them to get their hands on a couple of your old parchments?" 

Bill frowned; he was still _persona non grata_ with the sixth-years in particular because of that incident; everyone thought he'd grassed on Sirius and James. He didn't know who had _really_ sent the parchment to McGonagall (who had been able to figure out it was Bill's after peering at the writing that had previously been pressed into the surface) and why they hadn't known about Peter and Remus also being out of the castle that night; he just knew that _all_ of the older students thought he was a rat now, and he had been avoiding the common room ever since. 

When McGonagall had called him to her office and asked him about the anonymous letter, which was in his handwriting and written over a former Transfiguration assignment of his, she'd thought he was merely being modest when he denied any knowledge of it. Sirius and James had been standing right there, Sirius glowering at him the entire time, James merely looking chagrined. She'd told him not to be worried about retaliation from the older students; she'd see to it that he was safe. Being treated like a baby in need of protection--especially when he hadn't done anything--made him feel even _worse_. 

As he was leaving McGonagall's office, James had said softly to Bill, "Thought you said you didn't do this sort of thing." Bill felt his stomach drop into his feet. James Potter was the last person he'd try to get into trouble, and now poor Potter had a week of detentions, and he thought it was Bill's fault. 

"If Booth and Leonard find out we're planning to sneak into Hogsmeade tomorrow," Alex continued, "they'll be running to McGonagall faster than--" 

"_We're planning to sneak into Hogsmeade tomorrow?_" Orville squeaked. "Since when? We'll be expelled!" 

"We will _not_ be expelled! We won't even be caught! We'll use that secret passage Bill saw the sixth-years use! It's foolproof!" 

Bill wasn't so sure about that. "I didn't show you that so we could--" 

"But it's _perfect!_" Alex insisted. 

"We don't even know where it _goes_!" Bill said angrily. 

Alex started to walk along the corridor. "Well! No time like the present to find out! We'll do our homework first, of course. A practice run. Then we'll be all set for tomorrow!" 

"Why can't we just go into Hogsmeade tonight?" Orville asked, jogging to keep up with Alex, who rolled his eyes. 

"Because we'd stand out like sore thumbs! Tomorrow the entire village will be swarming with students. No one'll notice us then." 

Bill held back. "I've been to Hogsmeade, and it's not that great--" 

Alex turned and glared at him. "So have I been to Hogsmeade, Bill. That's not the point. The point is _getting out of the ruddy castle._" 

The three of them looked at each other for a tense moment, then the boys continued walking along the corridor. They went downstairs and around corners until they were half-way along the third-floor corridor, stopping before the statue of the hump-back witch. 

"Check the classrooms," Alex told Bill and Orville. They nodded and quietly started creeping into the various rooms lining the corridor. They couldn't find anyone about. The three of them were standing around the statue, their wands drawn. Bill touched the hump and said croakily, "_Dissendium._" 

The witch opened and the passage was revealed. Alex went first, then Orville. Bill was about to climb in when Rembert Leonard and Peregrin Booth suddenly ran around the corner. 

"There you are!" Booth cried out, breathless. "Don't go without us!" 

Bill frowned. "How did you--" 

"Not now! We have to get out of sight, before someone comes!" Booth panted, holding a stitch in his side. He pushed past Bill and slid down the passage, followed by Leonard. Bill grimaced, knowing there was bound to be a row when Wood saw them. Sure enough, he heard an outraged roar from below. Sighing, he slid down after them, finding himself in a dusty, dark space lit only by a slit of light filtering down from the torches in the corridor above. The other boys weren't standing in the light; he could hear grunting coming from the blackness. As the witch's hump slid closed, that light disappeared, and Bill took out his wand, saying, "_Lumos_." 

He saw immediately, in the dim light, that his friends were locked in combat, the four of them a mass of arms and legs. Alex had Booth in a headlock and Leonard was sitting on Orville while Orville attempted to smack Booth about the legs. 

"Break it up!" Bill roared at them in his new, deeper voice; the echo in the tunnel gave it an added ring of authority. They all sat up, looking at him meekly. "Now that we're all here, we _all_ need to be concerned about getting caught. Let's light wands and try to figure out where this tunnel goes without any more fighting, understand?" 

Alex stood shuffling his feet. "I was just trying to get out of Booth which one of them ratted on Black and Potter and made it look like _you'd_ done it." 

"_We_ didn't do that!" Leonard immediately cried. 

"Ssshhh!" Bill said quickly. "Not so loud!" He scrutinized Booth and Leonard. "If either one of you _did_ do that and I ever find solid evidence, you're going to be very sorry," he said softly. "In the meantime, now that you're here, you'll be in as much trouble as the rest of us if we get caught, so watch yourselves and don't say a word about what we're doing if you know what's good for you." 

They nodded vigorously. The others lit their wands and they all walked forward for a very long time, sometimes going down, sometimes up, and making numerous turns. When they went up some dusty stairs and discovered they were in the basement of Honeyduke's, they couldn't believe their luck. 

"All we have to do is wait until the older students have left the castle tomorrow, then come down here and let ourselves into Honeyduke's. It'll be like a dream come true," Alex said in amazement as they went back down to the secret passage. That night Bill could hardly sleep, thinking about what they were going to do tomorrow. 

However, he couldn't help think that he'd have traded a hundred Hogsmeade trips for the chance to clear his name and have the sixth-years trust him again. 

* * * * *

_Saturday, 17 June, 1977_

  
Lily rolled over in her sleep, reaching out, but finding her arms empty when she opened her eyes. She sighed. She'd been with Remus again, just two weeks before. She'd had a talk with him a few months before that, explaining to him that she was with Severus, but their relationship wasn't really physical yet, and she was willing to be a "friend" to Remus occasionally, when he needed some help. _Just a friend_. She said that she knew he hadn't meant to hurt her when he'd broken her leg. However, if her relationship with Severus ever took on a more physical nature, she would have to stop helping him in this way. He had accepted this, wishing he'd been more vigilant about avoiding her, but over the months, he'd let his guard down, and she had surprised him in the corridor outside the potions dungeon. They hadn't been together since December, and although he was mad with desire for her, he managed to be very careful, and that day she was uninjured. 

She had separated herself from him quickly afterward, fleeing the dungeon room where they'd gone. Crying as she climbed the stairs, she'd taken herself upstairs to a disused girls' bathroom where she kept having the feeling that someone was watching her. Shuddering, she went back up to Gryffindor Tower, reminding herself that Remus was her friend and would never think of her as anything else, no matter what she thought she dreamed when she was in the infirmary with a broken leg.... 

_Well_, she thought, _today is a Hogsmeade weekend_. The first in recent memory. The headmaster had relented; there had been a lull in Death Eater activity, and the Ministry assured him that there would be numerous Aurors in Hogsmeade and the students would be perfectly safe. Lily certainly hoped so, but safety wasn't really her first concern. She was going to Hogsmeade with Severus. A date, of sorts. But they were going to be careful not to touch--even hold hands--in public, in deference to the rampant anti-Slytherin sentiments in Gryffindor lately, and the rampant anti-Gryffindor sentiments in Slytherin. She sighed deeply; life would have been so much easier if she and Remus-- 

_Stop that,_ she told herself sternly. Another sigh. Oh, well. She had to stop dreaming and start _living_. Today she was going to Hogsmeade with Severus. That was a big step. She forced herself to get up and dress before she decided to stay at the castle out of sheer nerves. _It will be all right,_ she told herself. _Everything will be fine._

After breakfast, the third-years and up started streaming out of the castle. She walked about a foot from Severus on the path to Hogsmeade; they were surrounded and jostled by so many other people, it was probably unclear that they were actually together. When she turned a little, she saw behind her in the crowd James Potter walking with his arm around Bonnie Manetti's shoulders, her arm looped around his waist, and Lily felt a pang of jealousy that they could do that, as there weren't any rampant wars going on between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Then she noticed Remus walking with Peter and Sirius (who had plenty of opportunities to be with girls in the castle, and didn't want a girl along "ruining" his Hogsmeade trip). Remus seemed very pale in the bright June sunshine, his grey hair looking almost white. She met his eye briefly and turned to face forward again. _I will not think about Remus,_ she thought fiercely. _I will not think about Remus...._

The people of the village were thrilled to see the students again; they had traditionally counted on them to leave the castle on a regular basis and spend money in the village, but with the moratorium on Hogsmeade weekends, the village merchants were all hurting. Soon Lily found herself laughing beside Severus as they watched a terrible puppet show (the puppets were enchanted) outside Zonko's joke shop, and she took great pleasure in picking out sweets she knew he liked in Honeyduke's. The day was turning out even better than she supposed. When he suddenly reached out, breaking the rules they'd laid down for the day, and took her hand in his as they were leaving Honeyduke's, in full view of Sirius, Peter, Remus, James and Bonnie, who were approaching the shop, her heart turned over and she squeezed his hand back, daring anyone who objected to try anything. Sirius' eyes narrowed as they passed; she glared at him defiantly. Then she saw Remus next to him, appearing rather forlorn, and she swallowed, trying not to think about this, turning away and walking down the High Street, Severus Snape's hand in hers. 

They hadn't gone more than fifty feet when the world suddenly exploded. 

Lily and Severus were thrown to the ground; he covered her body with his as debris rained down on them, but Lily tried to climb out from under him. Around them, the rest of the people in the street were on the ground also, looking shaken and confused. 

"What's going on?" she asked shakily, brushing plaster dust from his black hair. He looked around in a daze. 

"I don't know." He squinted back in the direction from which they'd come; she turned also, seeing flames erupting from the sweetshop. 

"_Oh, no_," she gasped. "Remus--James--Bonnie--Sirius--" 

Before he could stop her, she was sprinting down the road, holding handfuls of her robes in both hands. He ran after her, and they arrived at the flaming shop just in time to see James Potter, covered in plaster dust, bleeding and with a torn sleeve that revealed a vicious burn on his left arm, carrying Bonnie Manetti from the flaming building, then collapsing in the road with her. Lily went on her knees next to Bonnie and started yelling at her, "Bonnie! Bonnie, can you hear me?" 

She felt for a pulse, but the wrist was not throbbing at all, and Bonnie's flesh felt strange to the touch. She moved her hand to Bonnie's neck, to feel for the pulse there, but instead she found a large piece of wood which had been hurled right through her neck, probably killing her instantly. Lily choked back a sob and looked up at James, who had obviously realized before her that it was hopeless. His dusty face was streaked with tears, his eyes liquid blue behind his spectacles. Lily couldn't help the tears flowing down her own cheeks. 

"Oh, James! I'm so--so--" 

He nodded, cradling Bonnie against him. She remembered the night his parents had died. _It just wasn't fair,_ she thought, _that he should lose so many people so young..._

She reached for Severus, beside her, for solace, but he wasn't there; she looked up and he was running toward Honeyduke's. "_No!_" she screamed. "Severus!" 

But he was gone, into the smoke. She started to rise, but James had grabbed her wrist. "No, Lily! It's too dangerous!" 

"That's why I have to go! He--" 

"Lily!" he cried again, looking at her desperately, with tears running down his face. "I--I couldn't take it if--if--" 

Abruptly, she pulled him to her and held him while he cried, unable to prevent the tears gushing from her own eyes. _He doesn't want to lose me, too._ After a minute she separated from him and looked toward the flames. 

"Are they--are they all--?" Her voice shook. She couldn't say it. She wondered whether she'd ever see Remus again. Or Sirius, or Peter. Or Severus. 

James shuddered, watching. "I--I don't know," he whispered. Then they could see a figure emerging from the smoke, and it was Remus. Lily couldn't bear it any more; she scrambled to her feet and ran to him. He was carrying three people, somehow. Once he was clear of the burning building, he collapsed and dropped them to the ground. He had Sirius, Peter and a small boy with a foxy face, a pointed nose. She threw her arms around Remus and kissed him on the mouth without thinking, then she fell on Sirius and Peter, hugging them too, crying hysterically, feeling completely irrational. 

"You're all right! You're all right!" she choked out, speaking to no one and all of them. The three older boys looked at her, their faces grimy and streaked with sweat, their robes singed and smoking. Remus was out of breath. 

"I have to go back in," he said finally managed to say. 

"Me too," Sirius chimed in. He didn't seem to appreciate being removed from the building by Remus. 

She grabbed their arms as they stood to return to the conflagration. "Why? Haven't you done enough?" 

Remus shook his head. "There are more second-years in there. They'll die if someone doesn't go." 

He pulled his arm away from her and they were both running back to the fire before she could think. She turned and stared at the boy on the ground before her. 

"You _are_ a second-year!" she said in surprise. The thin boy raised guilty brown eyes to her. "What's your name?" she demanded. "Who are the others?" 

But now the boy was staring at the fire, crying convulsively, unable to speak. She held him against her, feeling motherly suddenly, crying with him. Peter was shaking, but he took out his wand and repaired a cut on the boy's arm, trying to be useful. 

"You're Leonard, aren't you?" he said quietly to the boy while he fixed his wound. The boy nodded, still crying. 

"Did all five of you come?" Lily whispered, hoping against hope that someone had been left behind at the castle. When the boy nodded again, she met Peter's eyes, seeing the same fear there that she was feeling. _Gone. All gone...._

Aurors had finally come running; they circled the still-burning building, spraying water from their wands to put out the flames, or just freezing them into arcs of brilliant red and orange tinged with blue. Lily saw one of them, a young woman with a kind face and chestnut hair, kneel by James, talking softly to him, finally convincing him to let go of Bonnie's body and let another Auror examine her. Then they conjured a stretcher and moved her onto it, and the body of the seventeen-year-old girl suddenly seemed very small. _The body_, Lily thought. _She isn't even a person any more; now she's a body...._

She turned aimlessly, as Aurors moved about the site of the shop. Finally, she saw a tall, dark figure emerge from the smoke, walking under a frozen arc of flame, followed by two boys staggering, leaning against each other, their arms looped around each other's shoulders. Severus was carrying a boy in his arms; both of their faces were black with soot. From a distance, through the soot, she recognized a bit of the blond hair of Peregrin Booth, and she ran to meet them and the other two boys, who she saw now were Weasley and Wood. It was almost impossible to tell that Weasley had red hair, there was so much ash in it. Severus collapsed on the ground. 

"One--didn't--" he gasped. 

"You've breathed too much smoke, Severus!" She patted him on the back and pushed his hair out of his face, concerned. He shook his head. 

"I'll be fine," he whispered. "Simpson--" 

She looked up and Sirius was emerging from the wreckage of Honeyduke's, carrying the Simpson boy. Remus followed him, bearing what seemed to be three adults, who, she was glad to see, were all stirring. Sirius laid the Simpson boy next to Booth, and his head lolled unnaturally; a trickle of blood ran down his face. Lily started to go to him, but Severus put his hand around her wrist, holding it so firmly it hurt. She saw him and Sirius exchange a very grave look, and she knew that, for the first time in their acquaintance, they were agreeing on something. _Neither one of them wanted her getting near Simpson._ She looked at the still boy, an uneasy feeling growing inside her. 

"Is he--" 

"Lily," Severus said softly, not releasing her wrist. "There's no doubt." 

"But how can you be so _sure_?" 

Sirius swallowed. "Back of the head," he whispered, with some effort. She noticed that he was looking a bit green. Suddenly, he scrambled to his feet and staggered away from them; he wasn't able to get more than ten feet before he began retching onto the cobblestones, and Lily looked at Severus, understanding what Sirius had meant, finally. _It was blown off,_ she realized. _The back of his head_.... 

She saw that Severus was also looking rather green, and her stomach moved uneasily inside her as well. Then Aurors appeared by their sides suddenly and helped them to stand; all at once, the sixth-years were no longer adults, taking care of the younger children. They were children themselves again, being hustled out of the way, clucked over and checked for wounds. 

They were all transported back to the castle in ambulances, regardless of whether they were hurt. Professor Dumbledore watched the stretchers being carried in, looking very old. Madam Pomfrey obtained some help from mediwizards in setting up a triage center in the Great Hall. Everyone was shaken to the core, looking at each other with wide, stunned eyes. Everyone knew that it was highly unlikely that another Hogsmeade weekend would be scheduled for a very long time. 

In spite of efforts to contain the chaos at the castle, no one seemed to be in charge, suddenly; students ran about the corridors visiting one another and the teachers did, too. It was pandemonium, and didn't lessen until eleven at night, when everyone was finally forced to return to their houses, and, ideally, their dorms. 

Remus, however, was restless. He had been sitting in the Gryffindor common room, with James and Lily. James was in an armchair by the fire, staring into space, his arm bandaged, Lily sitting on the floor in front of his chair, her legs drawn up to her chest as she gazed at the flames. Sirius and Peter had gone to bed, and the surviving second-years had also gone up the stairs. When he rose to go, no one stopped him. 

He wasn't sure where he was going. Perhaps to the infirmary, to see how the wounded students were doing. Perhaps to talk to Dumbledore, or Professor McGonagall; but when he closed the portrait behind him, his ears pricked up; he could hear someone crying, someone not in Gryffindor Tower. He knew that most people would probably not have been able to hear it, but his sensitive werewolf's hearing helped lead him to the sound unerringly. He had to walk up a flight and down a long corridor before he came to a closed classroom door, and then he could smell the person doing the crying, he could smell the soot and ash residue, and knew it was someone who'd been in Honeyduke's. He opened the door and spoke into the dark room. 

"Who's there?" 

There was silence, of a sort. The boy stopped sobbing and seemed to be holding his breath, hoping Remus would go away, probably. Remus drew his wand and lit it; holding it up, he saw a boy with a young, tear-streaked face and large bloodshot eyes, a nose red from crying. 

"Oh, it's you, Wood," he said, pointing his wand at some candles on the wall, which sprang to life. The boy had been sitting in a corner, holding his knees against his chest, but now he stood, wiping his face with his sleeve. "I thought you were in the dorm." 

He shook his head, his chin trembling. "I--I can't go there," he whimpered. 

"Why not?" 

"Because--because it was all my fault!" 

Remus strode to him and pulled the boy against him as he started crying again. Wood hesitated at first, then threw his arms around the taller boy, and they rocked back and forth, as Remus' heart ached, wondering what he would have done if, at thirteen he had felt responsible for someone else's death. _I could have been responsible for someone dying, many times...._

"Sssh, sssh," he hissed at the boy, trying to soothe him. "It wasn't your fault. Even though you lot weren't supposed to be there, you didn't blow up the sweetshop...." 

The boy's head was just below Remus' chin. His face was still as hairless as a girl's, and tentatively, Remus reached up and smoothed the boy's messy hair with one hand, trying to be a calming influence. However, he could not help but notice that, in the midst of the chaos and fear, it was very comforting to hold another person's body against his, to feel another heart beating against his chest.... 

Simultaneously, both boys withdrew from each other in horror. Remus swallowed and felt a warmth rising from his neck, while Wood was beet red, putting his hand over the front of his robes, trying to hide what Remus had already felt when the boy had been pressed against him. _Bloody animal,_ Remus thought at himself, fighting the urge to hide his own reaction to the boy in a similar fashion. _He's a child still, and in grief...._

"It's--it's all right, Wood," Remus said shakily, even though he wasn't convinced himself. Wood shook his head, biting his lip. 

"No. No, it's not. I'm--I'm not _right._ And--and now Orville's dead, because of me." 

"Because it was your idea to go into Hogsmeade?" 

"That and--and the fact that--" 

Remus frowned. "What?" 

Wood was still biting his lip. "Well--I've kept your secret. You know, about being a werewolf hunter." Remus tried not to laugh; clearly, Weasley had not told his friends the _true_ truth. "So--so do you promise to keep my secret?" 

Remus nodded, annoyed with himself for feeling another twinge of desire for the boy. Something about sharing confidences was terribly _stimulating...._

"Well, I--Orville--I mean, he didn't know. I made the other blokes think I fancied Mary Ann Boxwood. All I had to do was deny it at least once a day. But--but it was really Orville. I fancied him rotten," he finished in a rush. 

Remus digested this and nodded slowly. "I see," he said simply, not daring to add anything to this. 

"Do you?" Wood said now. "He was killed because of me. Because I--I wanted him. Which is unnatural, so--" 

Remus frowned and stepped toward him again. "Don't be stupid! Your friend did not die because you had fallen for him. That's superstitious nonsense. And--and plenty of people in the world feel as you do. I mean, men who--who fall in love with men--" he said awkwardly. "A man falling in love with another man doesn't cause the second one to _die._" 

"But he wouldn't even have been in Hogsmeade if it weren't for me! I--I wanted him to have a good time," he said tearfully. "I wanted him to--to just look at me once with--with this way he has of smiling--_had_ of smiling--when--when he was really happy--" 

He broke down again and Remus gathered him in his arms again, trying to ignore the fact that this was physically stimulating both of them. The boy cried into his robes and Remus rocked him back and forth, hoping Wood would stop hating and blaming himself and realize that he was perfectly normal. _Why can't I feel that way about myself_? he wondered. _I'm such a hypocrite...._

"You wanted to make your friend happy," Remus whispered to him, and he kissed his brow tenderly. "You cared about him and wanted to make him happy. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and none of you could have foreseen that." His voice was very soft. 

Then he realized that the boys had probably taken the Honeyduke's passage into the village, remembering that Bill Weasley knew about this. Remus had been confused about why the letter to McGonagall had just said he'd seen Sirius and James leaving the castle; there was no mention of the secret passage, and no mention of him or Peter. (When she'd called James and Sirius to her office and they still had paper napkins from a Muggle pub in London in their pockets, and five pounds in Muggle money, it had been rather incriminating.) Now he knew; Weasley hadn't mentioned the tunnel so that McGonagall wouldn't find out and block it up. He'd wanted to use it himself at some point.... 

Wood's fingers clutched at his robes. Remus stroked his hair and held him tightly, his own guilt starting to become overwhelming, while the boy sobbed on him and repeated like a mantra the same words: 

"_It should have been me....it should have been me...._" 

* * * * *

Lily and James still sat by the fire in the common room; she wasn't sure where Remus was going, but she felt strongly that it was James who needed her just now. Earlier, before Sirius and Peter had gone up the stairs, Lily accosted each of them, giving Sirius a firm hug and a kiss on the cheek, then Peter. They both looked at her with longing, but she didn't notice this. She looked toward the fireplace, at James. 

"I'm going to talk to him," she whispered to the others. "I'm afraid of what he might do...." 

Sirius pulled her to him in another hug and kissed her forehead. "Take good care of him, Lil." She looked at him gratefully, feeling somehow that he might finally be growing up, a little. Peter seemed a bit agitated, but followed Sirius up the stairs. After Remus left the common room, she moved to the chair where he'd been sitting. Looking restless, James rose and began to pace before the fire. She watched him going back and forth, finally saying, "You mustn't blame yourself, James. I heard you saying over and over, _It's all my fault._ It's not. You can't go on torturing yourself this way...You'll fall in love again some day...." 

He continued to pace the hearthrug, the firelight lighting the underside of his nose and reflecting in his glasses, obscuring his eyes. He rubbed the dark stubble on his cheeks and wrung his hands alternately. 

"Oh, Lily, you don't understand...." James took off his glasses and ran his hand over his face. She watched him; he looked very different without his glasses. His eyes seemed so vulnerable, so defenseless. He put them back on before she could think any more about it. "You see--I--I was going to break up with Bonnie today. It--it just wasn't working out...." 

Lily covered her mouth in surprise. "Oh! Oh--I had no idea. I thought the two of you were, um, were--" 

"Sleeping together? Yes; a big mistake. It made her think--it made her think we were somehow incapable of breaking up. As though that meant we were going to be together for the rest of our lives. I wanted to go slowly, I really did. I'm still not completely clear how it happened...." 

Lily turned a bit pink. "Well. You know how it is. Sometimes--these things just--happen." Her voice was very soft. James noticed that she had colored. 

"Right." He cleared his throat. "At any rate--we had a row last night. We stopped just _short_ of breaking up. Afterward, I wished I _had_ broken up with her instead of just storming off. Then she wouldn't have been in Honeyduke's.... She probably thought I'd calm down and come to my senses and we'd be right as rain again, you know?" 

"If you don't mind my asking--what were you fighting about?" 

He sighed and looked down at his hands. "Something stupid. Because it wasn't going to happen. I _knew_ it wasn't going to happen. Ever since the second time we--we slept together, she's been talking as though she's already married to me. Or engaged, at least. She was always saying, _When we have a place of our own,_ or, I'll make sure you never forget to shave when you're waking up next to me every day; you'll have to shave before you can give me a kiss. It was getting on my nerves, rather. I mean, I'm only in bloody sixth year! And if I ever decide to marry _anyone_, I'd like to ask them myself. Then, last night, she just--I don't know. She pushed me over the edge. I'd been managing not to lose my temper, but I just couldn't stop myself...." 

Lily rose and walked to him, taking him gently by the hand and leading him to a chair, making him sit. She sat on the floor at his feet, his hand still in hers, her cheek on the cushion next to his leg. "It's all right, James. When you're ready," she whispered, seeing fresh anguish and guilt on his face. 

He swallowed and nodded, looking down at her, at the way the firelight lapped at her features, the way her green eyes glowed softly, the light reflecting in them. _He could tell Lily,_ he knew. _She'd understand._

"We were arguing about my dad's name," he said finally, after staring at her for some time. Lily noticed him doing this and decided not to say anything; she found that she was staring right back at him, and was glad that he was preoccupied and seemed not to notice this. 

"Your dad's name?" 

"Well, see, she was doing it again. Talking about our being married and all. She was saying that when he have kids, if we have a boy, we should name him Henry after my dad, and if we have a girl, she should be Elspeth after my mum." 

"I see--" Lily said slowly, vertical lines appearing between her brows despite her best efforts not to reveal her confusion over why this had angered James, other than the fact that Bonnie was being presumptuous again. 

"No, you probably don't. I--I just lost control of myself completely. I started screaming at her, `No son of mine is going to be named Henry! If I decide to name my son after my father, his name will be Harry! That's what my father was called! His damn name was Harry!'" 

His voice rose hysterically and tears started running down his face as he remembered his father's funeral again, the stupid gits who didn't even _know_ him getting up and talking about how much _Henry_ had meant to them.... 

He felt Lily's hand on his knee, patting it sympathetically. He fought the urge to put his hand on her head, to stroke her beautiful hair, to brush some stray strands from her brow. Instead, he put his hand over hers. "And my mum....my dad never called her `Elspeth.' He would always put his hand under her chin;" unconsciously, James reached down and did this with Lily, her lip trembling as she felt his fingers brush her jaw; "and he would just look at her and say, `My Rose...' Dad always said there were roses in Mum's face...." 

James still held her chin in his hand and Lily looked up at him with moist eyes. Her heart was thudding painfully in her chest. "So," she whispered, "if you had a daughter you'd name her Rose?" 

He didn't answer, but looked down at her, his heart pounding in his ears, her skin so soft under his fingers. _He was a terrible, terrible person._ What he wanted to do at this moment more than anything else in the world was to lean down and kiss Lily Evans, to lift up her chin with his fingers and brush his lips against hers, to feel her mouth slowly open under his.... 

_Bonnie was dead._ His girlfriend had only just died, and here he was yearning after another girl, one of his best friends, and the girl one of his other best friends loved. He remembered Remus at Lily's bedside, telling her how he loved her. He knew that was why she had wondered whether _he_ had spoken while she was sleeping. Some part of her _had_ heard Remus. She must not believe it really happened, he thought, if she's really seeing Snape. 

"I might," he whispered. "I--I don't especially want to think about it at sixteen, though," he added. They were silent again, looking into each other's eyes, his hand under her chin still as she gazed up at him, trying to figure out how she was feeling. 

"You know," she said softly after a while, "there's no reason you couldn't just name a boy Harry." 

Her speaking jolted him. "Tell that to Bonnie--" he started to say, then put his hand up to his mouth in horror. "I mean--I _said_ that to her, and she argued with me about it. Said that you _couldn't_ name a boy plain old `Harry.' That it wasn't a proper name; it was a nickname. It was what people were called whose _real_ names were Henry or Harold or Harrison....she kept saying you couldn't just _name_ someone _Harry._ And I kept telling her I didn't care. I wasn't going to name any son of mine Henry and have people calling him the wrong thing all his life. And it was so _stupid_ for me to be talking to her about this, when I didn't even want to be thinking about children at all, especially with her, when I just wanted to say to her, _Listen Bonnie, I don't think this is working out..._ Instead, I was talking just as if I _also_ believed we were going to get married and have kids...." 

Lily smiled grimly at him. "She struck a chord, that's all. It's your parents' names. You're not going to take it lightly. Listen, James, just because you had a row before she died...It's not like _you_ killed her, after all. Bonnie was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I doubt you would feel less guilty if you _had_ broken up with her last night. You might even be feeling worse right now. _You can't blame yourself_." 

She clambered to her feet and then leaned down to kiss his brow. He wished he had the nerve to lift his face and catch her lips with his. A shudder went through him; her lips lingered on his skin. She finally straightened up, her face in shadow. She held her hand out to him and he took it, standing uncertainly. She led him to the circular stairs to the girls' dorms and he stopped in surprise. 

"Lily--what--" 

"I'm not letting you spend tonight alone, James Potter. That's all there is to it." 

He clutched at her hand. _What did she mean?_ he wondered. But he followed her up the stairs, not trusting himself to speak, in case a strangled yelp should be all that came out of his mouth. When they reached the sixth-year girls' dorm, she turned the door knob carefully, slowly, creeping into the room after turning to him and putting her finger over her lips. In the light from the torch on the landing, James could see that deep red hangings were pulled around all of the beds in the room but one, near the window. Lily motioned for him to close the door, and when he did, the torchlight was gone and the room was plunged into darkness. Then he felt her hand again, guiding him to the fourth bed. He heard the springs creak as she clambered onto the mattress; he followed her. She was making a rustling noise, and he realized that she was pulling the hangings around her bed so that they would be hidden from sight in the morning. 

His heart seemed to be running away with him, it was racing so fast. Then he felt her settle on the mattress next to him in the dark, on top of the coverlet. It was such a strange thing to be doing, to be sharing a bed with someone else, especially Lily (he and Bonnie had never dared to try to spend the night together). He found that she had left plenty of space for him, and that she was lying next to him fully clothed still, her robes over her Muggle clothes, like him. He lay down on his side, only to discover that her hair was in his face. He whispered to her, "Can I move your hair?" He realized that she must have her back to him. She murmured a vague assent, obviously tired and on the verge of sleep. He tentatively reached out and took her hair in his hands, winding it into a rope and gently placing it over her shoulder. After he'd done this, he rested his hand on her shoulder, then ran it down her back, then around her waist, under her arm. He drew nearer to her, spooning her, and she settled back against him as though this were the most natural thing in the world. 

James held Lily close and his heart ached within him. He had just lost his girlfriend. He'd carried her dead body in his arms. Publicly, he was obliged to mourn for a respectable amount of time, in spite of the fact that he'd been on the verge of breaking up with Bonnie. It was as though she'd found another way to continue to make him hers. And he _was_ sorry she was dead. In most respects, he'd thought she was a great girl. He just didn't think _they_ belonged together. And he would have mourned her wholeheartedly, he would have gladly gone through the charade of being the bereaved boyfriend, playing his part, doing what everyone expected of him, if it weren't for one small detail that made playing this role far more difficult and far more distasteful than it would have been otherwise: 

James Potter was in love with Lily Evans. 

* * * * * Join the Yahoo discussion group for this fic! Click on the above link to my author page to find the url. 

Please be a responsible reader and review! 


	7. Knowledge

**Title:** The Lost Generation (1975-1982) (07/20)  
**Author name:** Barb  
**Author email:** psychic_serpent@yahoo.com  
**Category:** Mystery  
**Sub Category:** Romance  
**Keywords:** MWPP Lily Snape Bill Weasley  
**Rating:** R  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA, Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent, Harry Potter and the Time of Good Intentions  
**Summary:** Bill Weasley begins his education at Hogwarts in 1975, in the middle of Voldemort's reign of terror. He never suspects that the Gryffindor prefects he looks up to, Lily Evans and James Potter, will eventually have a son who saves the wizarding world, nor that the Weasley family will eventually play an important role in the Dark Lord's fall. All he knows is that in a very scary wizarding world, Hogwarts is a safe haven where he has always longed to be--until, that is, there are whispers of vampires and werewolves, of Death Eaters and traitors, and a Seeress pronounces a Prophecy which will shake the wizarding world to its very foundations....  
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.   
**Author notes:** _The Lost Generation_ is the prequel to the _Psychic Serpent Trilogy_, which begins with _Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent_. There are events and characters mentioned which appear in other books in the trilogy (such as two Weasley sisters who were born between Charlie and Percy). While it is not absolutely necessary to read the trilogy first (the third book is in progress) it may be helpful in some respects. A FAQ file concerning the entire story arc is also available on the Psychic_Serpent Yahoo Group website.  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**The Lost Generation**

(1975-1982)

Chapter Seven

** Knowledge**

  
  
  


_Sunday, 18 June, 1977_

Bill Weasley paced the hard, unforgiving flagstone floor in the anteroom just off the Great Hall, sweating in his best robes, his stomach in knots. _I'm going to be expelled, I'm going to be expelled...._

"Bill!" He whirled upon hearing his name uttered by that familiar voice; it was his mother, running toward him and throwing her arms around him. He buried his face in her neck, bending over to do so, feeling a fresh wave of tears threatening to gush forth from his eyes. He tried to master himself and straighten up, but it wasn't easy. 

"I'm--I'm sorry, Mum, Dad," he said thickly. His father was holding baby Percy, his forehead lined with concern. "I'm a disgrace to the family. Getting expelled...." 

"Expelled!" his mother cried. "Whatever are you talking about?" 

"We've just been to see the headmaster and he said you're a hero!" his father exclaimed. 

Bill stopped and squinted at his father as though he perhaps hadn't heard the headmaster correctly. Surely he'd said "a heel" or something else bad, not "a hero." Which, in Bill's experience, usually meant something good. 

"You must have heard him wrong, Dad--" 

"Oh, no, I didn't. I heard him perfectly clearly," his father said cheerfully. "_A hero_. He said you threw yourself on your friend Alex when the explosion occurred, and helped him out of Honeyduke's. Alex told him everything." Bill swallowed as his father looked proudly at him. 

"Mind you, you shouldn't have _been_ down in the village to begin with," his mother added, a stern edge to her voice momentarily, "but you're not _expelled._ You aren't the one who blew up the sweet shop." Now she looked grim. "Of course, you'll have to wait until you're a fourth year to go to the village now, which seems perfectly appropriate. If there even _are_ Hogsmeade weekends at that point. Not," she went on, raising one eyebrow, "that your father or I would have signed the form for you to go during your third year. Not after this. If the headmaster hadn't ruled that you had to wait, we _would_ have. But that is to be your only punishment." 

"I mean, Bill, why should you and your friends be expelled for venturing into the village without permission just because you had the bad luck to walk into a Death Eater attack?" his father said reasonably. 

"If anything, the dear old man seems to blame himself," his mother said, sounding particularly motherly at that point. "Keeps saying he should have known You-Know-Who would get wind of the Hogsmeade weekend and try to make trouble...." 

Bill couldn't believe it. He wasn't expelled. He'd been so worried.... 

His father bounced the baby in his arms some more. Percy was a pale, skinny child, almost a year old, his bright red hair curling over his head, his bright blue eyes snapping. Bill smiled feebly at the baby, who was laughing and clapping his hands. 

"I think Perce is trying to cheer up his big brother," his father grinned, bouncing the baby some more. Bill looked at the small boy. _Some example I'm setting for my brothers and sisters,_ he thought. _I'm the oldest. I'm supposed to be responsible._

"Where are the others?" he asked, his throat tight as he let Percy grab his finger and hold it tightly, still gurgling and laughing. 

"Charlie's old enough to stay home with the girls for a little while," his father said lightly. "And your Aunt Meg is supposed to be looking in on them by Floo." Bill noticed that his mother was giving a very half-hearted smile; he could tell it made her nervous to be away from them. Charlie would be starting at Hogwarts in September, but Annie was not quite seven and Peggy was months away from turning five. Bill remembered plenty of times when he was only eleven and took care of Charlie, Annie and Peggy on his own--but his mother had only been an Apparition flight or a Floo trip away, not at Hogwarts, where they couldn't Apparate _or_ use Floo. They would have to return to Hogsmeade before they could Floo home, as they couldn't Apparate with Percy. 

They tried to talk for a little longer, while taking a walk on the grounds. They went down the long allee of oak trees that led to the greenhouses and then walked half-way around the lake and back. The talking usually petered out into extended silences. Before leaving, his mother hugged him again and looked in his face. 

"Now, Bill. I know how you are. You seem to enjoy carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. Try to think good thoughts. You're safe and sound and not expelled." 

"And soon you'll be home with your family for the summer, where we can keep an eye on you," his father winked. Bill tried to smile, but he wasn't feeling very cheerful. _Orville died because of me. I saw the sixth-years using the secret passage...._

At the same time--he had never been so homesick. And seeing the faces of his mates that morning, as they all awoke in the tower room which now had only four beds, had been one of the most excruciating moments of his life. He just knew they were all blaming him. If he hadn't seen what he'd seen and told them about it, Orville would still be alive. He wished now that he _had_ grassed on the sixth-years, and that he'd told someone in authority about the tunnel, so it could be sealed and never used by anyone again. 

He hadn't done that, though. No one had asked, either. It had been assumed that the second years had simply hidden themselves in the throng of students that had been part of the mass exodus from the castle the previous morning; no one asked about a secret passage, and, to his knowledge, none of the other second years had told any adult about such a passage. 

After his parents had gone, Bill returned to the shores of the lake, skipping stones across the surface of the water and trying to focus firmly on that, so that he wouldn't start crying again. 

"Oi, Bill!" 

He turned abruptly, poised to throw the stone in his hand. He saw Jack Richards walking down the lawn toward him and lowered his arm. He and Orville and Jack had been best mates at the Hogsmeade village school, but he and Orville had grown apart from Jack since Jack had become a Hufflepuff on the first day of their first term. 

"Hello," Bill said quietly to the other boy. Jack's grey eyes looked red around the edges and it didn't appear that he'd combed his light-brown hair recently. He picked up a flat stone on the shore of the lake and threw it, counting under his breath as it scudded across the water. 

"'Choo doing?" Jack asked, bending to look for another stone while Bill threw the one he was holding. 

"Nothing," Bill said aimlessly, looking for another stone as Jack stood and threw the one he'd found. 

"--_four, five, six, seven_," Jack chanted softly, watching his stone. "Not bad. Seven." Jack turned to him, and Bill also noticed that his nose was red. 

"Can't believe he's gone," Jack said suddenly, plunging his hands into his pockets. "I mean--d'you remember how we said before we came to Hogwarts that we'd still be friends, no matter what house we were sorted into? That was obviously a joke," he said, an edge to his voice as he bent over to look for another stone. 

Bill grimaced guiltily. "Sorry, Jack. But don't blame Orville. I didn't make an effort to--" 

"Oh, I'm not blaming Orville. I'm blaming myself. I could have done something. I'm a bloody Hufflepuff. Supposed to be so damn loyal." Jack threw another stone across the lake. "But--I could see that Orville wanted to be Alex Wood's friend now. He'd moved on. You seemed to, too. And it's not like I don't have new friends. Who was I to judge the pair of you? That's how it generally happens here. You get sorted and you're part of a new family. Your house family." He sighed. Bill nodded and they both bent down to pick up new stones. Suddenly, Bill looked up at his childhood friend and locked eyes with him. 

"Jack." 

"What?" 

"We're--we're only in second year. We can fix this now. There's no reason we have to ignore each other for another five years. We never should have let houses make such a difference. From now on, it's the way it used to be. If you like, I can ask my mum if you can visit for a while this summer. I mean, I'll have to spend a lot of time taking care of my little sisters, and sometimes my baby brother, too. But--if you'd like--" 

Jack was grinning ear to ear. "I love it at your house! It was always great whenever my mum and dad said we--I mean I--could go home with you on the bus and stay the weekend! You're right--we _should_ do that again! And maybe you'll let me--" 

"--de-gnome the garden?" Bill asked, smiling slyly. "It always needs it, so of course." 

Jack's grin grew wider. They sat on the shores of the lake for the rest of the afternoon, discussing plans for the summer and occasionally dredging up a funny memory of Orville; it was comforting to be able to laugh and think about him at the same time. They were only thirteen; they weren't certain how to go about mourning someone who was their age. And it was still hard to believe he was gone; when Jack was talking about things they used to do and said "we," Bill knew that he meant all three of them, Bill and Jack and Orville, when they used to both stay at his house. It would be a little strange for it just to be Jack coming to visit, but Bill thought it would be better than nothing. 

"It'll be just like old times," Bill lied, knowing that it could never be like that again, without Orville joining them. They could, however, acknowledge his absence by remembering him. _We'll never forget you, mate,_ he thought at Orville, wherever he was. 

The boys threw stones in the lake and talked, making plans and remembering their friend.... 

~~~~~

_Saturday, 5 August, 1977_

"_For he's a jolly good feh-eh-low! And so say all of us!_" 

Sirius, Peter and Remus were all grinning and patting James on the back. He sat at the head of the long kitchen table at Ascog Castle, where Sirius' family had lived since reclaiming their clan's castle ruins. After it was rebuilt, they had charmed it, like Hogwarts, to appear to be ruins still, so that Muggles were oblivious to the fact that a family of eight were living in a rebuilt tower house at the edge of Loch Ascog. James looked round at the Black family, who had taken him in without question after his parents had been killed. Sirius' mother was still quite youthful looking, not a bit of grey amidst the shining black hair swept up into a bun at the back of her head, her eyes twinkling at James. Sirius' father was much older than his mother, but even he didn't appear to be very old for sixty; James could imagine Sirius much older, with some wrinkles and white hair, when he saw Mr. Black. 

Sirius' oldest sister, Cassiopeia, was regal and forbidding, and her husband was standoffish, but James had found that the other sister, Ursula, was as sprightly and friendly as Cass was stiff and curt, and he got on well with her husband Alan, too. 

"Thanks," James said, his throat feeling tight suddenly as he regarded the people gathered round the long refectory table. "Thanks awfully. You really didn't have to go to all this trouble..." 

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, James. It's not every day you turn seventeen!" Callisto Black beamed at him. James grinned back at Sirius' mother. 

"This cake looks fantastic..." 

"Ursula made it. Your favorite: chocolate with raspberry fill between the layers and chocolate frosting on the outside." 

James' mouth was watering just from the description. "Well, what are we waiting for?" Sirius demanded, laughing. "Get this man a knife so he can cut his cake!" 

They cut it up and passed it round, and then there were presents. Sirius handed him a package which turned out to be an assortment of his favorite sweets; Sirius always got him the same thing, purchased from the sweetshop in Diagon Alley this time, instead of from Honeyduke's. However, James hadn't eaten any sweets since the day of the Honeyduke's attack and he looked down at the selection of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Fizzing Whizbies, Sugar Quills and other sweets he normally enjoyed a great deal, trying to think about something other than spewing. He swallowed and thought yet again of Bonnie, and of his tremendous guilt, and wondered whether he'd ever eat another sweet. 

James raised his eyes to Sirius', who didn't seem to realize anything was wrong. _Stupid wonderful git. He means well, but..._

"Thanks, mate. Everybody, have some," he said, starting to pass it around the table, hoping that if the others ate enough, perhaps Sirius wouldn't notice that he wasn't partaking. 

He would never forget the leaving feast from his sixth year, the tribute that Dumbledore had had the students pay to the victims of the Honeyduke's attack. Every student and teacher in the school had stood and raised their goblets to Bonita Manetti, Orville Simpson and a fourth year Ravenclaw girl named Philippa Tanner. Two adults had also died in the attack. 

As the names rumbled through the hall, James had had to put his goblet down and place his hands on the table for support, unable to keep the dizziness from overwhelming him. On either side of him, Lily and Sirius had put their arms around him, and he'd felt the sympathy emanating from them, the support. He looked up to find the eyes of Severus Snape boring into his from across the hall; Snape being very tall meant it was easy enough to see his hostile expression. James swallowed, wondering what there really was between Snape and Lily (he assumed Lily was the reason for the glare). He surreptitiously glanced around Sirius at Remus, who nodded and smiled sympathetically, obviously bearing him no ill will for Lily comforting him, in stark contrast to Snape. He sighed and looked down at Lily, who smiled feebly and put her head on his shoulder, her arm laced through his. He tried not to think about how right it felt to stand with her, arm in arm, just as he tried frequently not to think about how wonderful it had felt to curl up with her on the night of the attack, holding her as they both drifted off to sleep, hearing her regular, steady breathing in the night when he awoke repeatedly with horrid dreams. He felt acutely what an awful person he was; they were standing to give tribute to Bonnie, among others, and here he was wishing Lily was his girlfriend.... 

He shook himself, looking round at the people in the kitchen, trying not to be disappointed that Lily hadn't been able to come to his party. It would have meant her leaving her mother in the midst of more radiation treatments. James had tried to convince her before he'd learned about that; he'd written to her and proposed that she just go from her London home to the Leaky Cauldron and take the Floo network to Ascog Castle. (She couldn't have taken the Knight Bus because the castle was on the Isle of Bute and the Knight Bus couldn't cross water.) He had started off congratulating her for being named Head Girl and segued into his invitation to the party. (He had been named Head Boy, for no reason that he could discern except perhaps pity from the other prefects, because his girlfriend had just died.) When she'd written back to explain about her mother, it had been very tempting to write to her again and beg her to reconsider, but he realized that that would have sounded rather odd and desperate, so he didn't do it. (He had the letter all written, but he crumpled it up and threw it into the fire.) 

"This came by owl post from your Great-Aunt Othalie," Ursula said now, handing him a package still in its brown paper wrapping, with string going all around to secure it. James used the cake knife to cut the string, getting icing on the brown paper. When he'd peeled the paper back, he found a medium-size wooden box with a tooled leather top bearing a coat of arms (a rampant lion, bearing a crown, flanked by a unicorn and a stag). He knew what the Gaelic legend around the image meant. 

"_My race is royal,_" James said softly, tracing the ancient words. 

"Here now, don't be getting a swelled head or anything. It's not like you're the only member of Clan MacGregor in the world or anything," Sirius said, laughing. James smiled up at him; Sirius was standing before his own clan's coat of arms, with its silver lion on blue. 

"I wonder what Aunt Othalie was doing with this," he said musingly. "She's a Potter. Well, by marriage, anyway. It's my mum who was Clan MacGregor. _And_," he added, smirking at Sirius now, "need I remind you that her surname was _King_ before she married my dad?" 

Sirius threw his head back and laughed while James slowly opened the box. The first thing he found was a letter from his great aunt. 

_My Dear James, _

I hope you have a happy seventeenth birthday. I have been keeping some items safe which I recovered from your parents' cottage in Godric's Hollow after their deaths, and now that you are of age I believe you should have them. I enjoyed having you and your friend come visit me during the Christmas holiday. I am a very old woman; calling me your great-great-aunt is more accurate than great aunt, but you can't be sitting about all day spouting ruddy titles, can you? It was refreshing to have young people about again. 

James smiled. He loved his Aunt Othalie. She was ancient (around a hundred-and-forty, he reckoned) but still very spirited. She had led quite a life. She had regaled him and Sirius with late-night stories of how, when she was a Muggle-born witch fresh out of Hogwarts, she had disguised herself as a man and joined the Royal Navy. Then she'd gone to America, helping to smuggle slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad, all the while using magic to thwart their pursuers. She claimed that she was the one who had caused the cigars wrapped round with Confederate battle plans to fall into Union hands, turning the tide of the war. She also claimed that _she_ was actually Annie Oakley, the sharp-shooter, that Wild Bill Hickock was a wizard who regularly used magic in his Wild West Show, and that she'd been in San Francisco for the 1906 earthquake, which supposedly convinced her to leave North America. She said she went to Hong Kong from there (running an opium den for wizards) before going down to Australia to be an actress with a wizarding theatre troupe in Sydney. (An affair with the married Australian Minister of Magic caused a dreadful scandal.) 

James didn't know whether to believe any of her tall tales (he'd actually caught her in more than one fib, which she'd blamed on a faulty memory), but the stories were all very exciting. If even a fraction of it were true, she'd been in more wars and had more careers and paramours than anyone he'd ever known, finally settling down with his grandfather's uncle, Jeremy Potter, after the Great War. They'd never had children and he'd never known his great-uncle. (Or great-great-uncle, as he was his great-grandfather's brother.) Jeremy Potter had died in a pub duel in the early thirties. His killer was still in Azkaban, which Aunt Othalie said was one of the few places in the world where she _hadn't_ been, and didn't care to, thank you very much. 

_I thought you should also have the old family Bible. Recorded in it are all of the births and deaths and marriages in the family going back for hundreds of years. Your parents' wedding bands are in the small velvet pouch, as well as the engagement ring your father gave your mother, and his father before that, and so on. I never wore it, since Jeremy's brother had given it to your great-grandmother, but then you know I'm not one for baubles. _

I'm sorry I can't give you more, but I'm an old woman and I've tried to give away as much as possible over the years to avoid my possessions being a burden on me. That's why I gave you my Invisibility Cloak years ago. I did tell you it was a gift from my Jeremy, didn't I? Fortunately, I haven't had need of it in years, and haven't missed it. (The next time you visit, I shall have to tell you of my years spent spying on Rommel, when it was very useful.) I hope you are enjoying it. 

Happy birthday, and write to your old auntie soon. 

Love, 

Othalie 

James reached into the box, and withdrew a book that looked far too big to fit into the box without its being magically enlarged. He ran his fingers over the hand-tooled leather of the cover, which, oddly enough, bore a pickaxe on the front, as well as the Masonic symbol. He wanted to look at this in private, later, so he replaced the book in the box and closed the lid again. 

"Just some old family things she wanted me to have," he said feebly. No one questioned him about it. After the party was over and he had said goodbye to Remus and Peter, who returned to their homes using the sitting room fireplace, James took his presents up to the room he and Sirius shared and put the box away carefully in his wardrobe. He went to the large window seat which overlooked the small castle courtyard and gazed up into the heavens, missing Lily so much his chest ached. She had sent a card and a book for a gift, and returned his congratulations for being Head Boy, but that was all. He wasn't sure what he had expected; she surely thought of him still as a brother. If she thought he would make a physical advance, he was certain she wouldn't have let him sleep in her bed the night Bonnie died. She obviously thought of their sharing the bed as perfectly innocent, and if she'd had a real brother she probably would have done the same thing. It wasn't as though she was ignorant of what went on between men and women, he thought, remembering her breaking her leg. She wasn't a child. _She just doesn't think of me that way...._

He remembered Snape glaring at him during the leaving feast. He'd seen her send tender looks in the direction of the tall Slytherin many times; it was obvious that she cared about him. On the other hand, her sympathetic looks toward Remus had waned, replaced by angry, puzzled frowns. Did she know what he was? James wondered. The thought of her being with Snape made him physically ill. He didn't know whether things had advanced that far, but it _was_ possible. 

He turned away from the window, trying to evict that image from his mind. He was seventeen today. He was of-age. Suddenly, he felt an incredible need to get out of the constricting walls of Ascog Castle. He needed to run with four hooves through the night, his best friend by his side.... 

"Sirius," James said suddenly, turning to find his best friend wearing his pajamas and climbing into his four-poster. "Don't let's go to bed yet. Let's go out. I feel like running beneath the moon. Look at her up there," he said, turning to the window again, pointing out the waning moon. "Bright as day. It's too hot to stay here, on the top floor of the castle. We can sleep tomorrow, in the afternoon, when it's sweltering. Tonight let's go out." 

Sirius considered this. "All right. But not just running around wild. I'd like to go into Rothesay." Rothesay was the largest town on the Isle of Bute, with a busy port. 

"Oh, come on. What will people think if they see a stag wandering around the town?" 

"Or walking along the quay!" Sirius laughed. "You git; when we're in town, change back and pretend you're walking your dog." 

James grimaced; he almost used the "it's _my_ birthday" card, but resisted the temptation. He didn't want to rub it in that Sirius wasn't going to be turning seventeen until late September; James would have almost a whole month of being of-age during the summer holiday, while Sirius would still be punished if he were caught doing magic outside of school. (It was illegal, of course, for them both to be unregistered Animagi.) 

Sirius dressed again and they crept down the spiral stairs, which led to the dungeons of the tower house. They froze on the landing outside Sirius' parents' bedroom when his father let out a particularly loud snort in his sleep, making James wish he had brought the Invisibility Cloak. Finally, they were in the dungeons, walking through the torch-lit passages leading to the small cottage which functioned as the entrance to the Black home. While the castle appeared to be ruins when Muggles looked at it, the cottage did not, although it was overgrown with vines and some of the windows were smashed in. It looked like a peasant abode that had been abandoned years earlier, but as a precaution, it carried anti-Muggle charms, like the castle, and these charms caused any Muggles who came too near to suddenly remember urgent appointments and go running off. Fortunately, very few Muggles were interested in the ruins of Ascog Castle, even clan Lamont enthusiasts, who were usually more fascinated by Towart Castle and Ascog House, a large manor on the east coast of the island. Sometimes Muggles came to the loch to do some fly-fishing (Sirius and James enjoyed doing this with his dad and Ursula's husband) but otherwise it was a very quiet place to live. 

James and Sirius ascended the rickety stairs that led from the cottage's cellar to the ground floor, and once they were outside they brushed themselves off, as they were covered with old spider webs and other dirt. Most of the time, they all left the castle to go into the wizarding world by Floo (or Apparition, for the older members of the household) and so the dungeon corridors weren't in regular use and had filled with large cobwebs. James and Sirius were usually the only ones who needed to use the cottage to leave the castle. 

When James looked up he saw that Sirius had changed into his Animagus form. He smiled, knowing how much his friend loved being an Animagus. There _was_ something indescribable about it. Actually becoming another creature was the most amazing thing James had ever experienced. He felt so _alive_ when he was in his animal form. 

He closed his eyes, concentrating, feeling the change move through him, feeling the wrench in his bones as they changed shape. No matter how much he thought he was prepared for the pain, it always seemed to startle him and take his breath away. Once it was accomplished, he could relax until such time as he changed back again (except that he was actually incredibly alert every second that he was a stag), but there was always that moment of indrawn breath, when the most unimaginable pain pierced him and reminded him that no magical advantage was without its price. 

And then there was the beauty of the night seen through a stag's eyes. He looked up, feeling the pull of the moon and hearing the wild animal cries coming from the brush around the castle and loch. He walked to the shore of Loch Ascog and did something he would normally not have done in his human form, bending down to drink the cold water, feeling the _life_ there, the movements of the fish living in the loch, the rustling of the grasses near the shore, where small wild rodents were hoping to avoid the claws of the birds of prey who swept down in the moonlight. The night was atwitter with tens of thousands of creatures following their instincts, going through the dance of the life cycle, and James felt an awareness of this in every hair of his hide. 

The large black dog trotted beside him; Sirius also drank from the loch, lapping noisily, before diving into the water and paddling out toward the center, then turning round and returning to the shore. When he was on dry land again, he shook vigorously, making drops of water fly in all directions, including onto James' flanks. The water felt like needles striking his hide, and James poked Sirius with his antlers, in retaliation. Sirius barked cheerfully, and James could swear he was smiling mischievously, before running at a gallop toward the road to Rothesay. 

They made their way toward the port town through cottage gardens and at the edges of roads. Once, when they were crossing what passed for a motorway on the island, a car began bearing down on them and James turned, fascinated, staring into the bright lights, before he felt Sirius nip him on the leg and push him to the edge of the road, the car _swish_ing past them incredibly quickly, making Sirius' tail appear to be moving as fast as the car, caught in its wake. James nudged Sirius' ear with his nose, grateful for the save. He had to be careful of that tendency; it was unnerving when his animal instincts threatened to overwhelm his human common sense. 

As they made their way to the port, James occasionally stopped to nibble on choice shrubs and the low-hanging branches of certain trees. He could not begin to imagine eating leaves normally (he wasn't even very fond of salads) but when he was a stag, these leaves tasted incredibly sweet and delicious to him, and he found himself hankering for them almost from the moment of the change. Sirius, on the other hand, made a pest of himself as far as other dogs were concerned. Whenever they came to a garden with a kennel in it, he had to check to see whether the resident dog or dogs had eaten everything in their food dishes. James was tempted to go to a Muggle shop and buy tins of dog food for Sirius for his birthday. Sometimes Sirius actually opined about his favorite dog foods, and on occasional nocturnal excursions such as this, he would turn up his nose at dishes containing food scraps from the owners' dinner tables; those people obviously didn't _care_ enough about their pets to give them proper nutrition. When Sirius ranted about this James tuned it out. 

He had long ago concluded that one of the nicest parts of being out with his mates in animal form was the silent companionship; there was no pressure to _talk_, to discuss things, dissect issues, beat topics to death. James loved his friends, but when he wanted someone to talk to, he went to Lily, not to Remus, James or Peter. 

_Lily._ How could he continue to go to her now that he was developing feelings for her? What if she caught on, and felt awkward, and stopped--stopped being there for him? He thought of the tension hovering between her and Remus. They used to be good friends, but James didn't know what they were now that they had been lovers, and he wasn't even clear that they were ex-lovers. There was still _something_ there between them, he could tell, but he didn't have a name for it, especially as Snape also seemed to be in the picture now as well. 

As much as he had bared his soul to Lily many times and she had cried on him about her mother, and confessed her crush on Sirius, she had never discussed her physical relationship with Remus, even though she knew he knew about it, since he had helped take her to the hospital wing with her broken leg. And she had certainly not discussed Severus Snape with him. He wondered whether he should encourage her to do so; perhaps if she agreed, hearing about her relationships with other boys would wake him up and make it possible for him to regard her as a sister again. Giving her objective, dispassionate advice about her love life might be the very thing to remind him that she was a friend, not a girlfriend, and someone he didn't want to lose. If they dated and it didn't work out, he hated the idea of never being able to talk to her again as he was used to. He knew he would feel incredibly bereft if that happened. 

At length, they reached the town proper, and James ducked into the shadows of a large house to change into his human form again, walking with Sirius along the mostly unlit streets, the darkness punctuated occasionally by lights from windows or briefly-opened doors, or shop windows displaying their goods to no one in particular. When they reached the quay, the bright moonlight bathing the open space there was almost blinding in contrast to the dark alleys where its light could not reach. There were a few couples walking hand in hand along the quay, the yachts bobbing gently in the water, which reflected the moon like a mirror. Suddenly, a familiar figure caught James' eye, and he paused, then hid himself behind a tall wooden post wrapped round with a large quantity of heavy rope. Sirius didn't notice and was still trotting along happily, enjoying his outing. James tried to beckon to him. 

"_Sirius_!" he hissed ineffectually. "_Padfoot! Come back here!_" 

Then Sirius noticed the figure James had seen, and he stopped, stiffening, a low growl making his entire body shiver. James peered cautiously around the post, trying not to reveal himself. 

Severus Snape was striding purposefully around the deck of the nearest yacht; James saw that it bore the name _Patricia._ He wore loose white sailor's trousers, the cuffs turned up a few times, revealing his pale, bony ankles above his deck shoes, and a plain white shirt with long sleeves that had been turned up so that the pale skin of his surprisingly muscled forearms was visible in the moonlight. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck and he smiled at the older man who was tossing him some rope, which Snape wound several times around a large cleat on the mast in a complicated pattern that James assumed must be a specific sailing knot of some kind. It seemed almost to be a kind of ritual to Snape, winding the rope just so. 

He was a Snape whom James Potter had never seen, laughing and cheerful, lifting his face to the sky as if basking in the moonlight. James saw now that the older man was very handsome; his eyes crinkled up at the young man as he watched him secure the rope. 

"What are ye so cheerful aboot tonight?" the older man said in a lilting Scotch burr. "Was that a laitter from yer lass ye had this afternoon?" 

James thought it might be possible Snape was actually blushing, although it was hard to tell in the light from the moon. "It was from Lily," he acknowledged, needlessly continuing to pay attention to the rope. He looked less cheerful. 

"Wail? Ain't she yer lass? Och--sorry. _Gairlfraind_." 

James saw Snape stiffen, and then Sirius let out a growl and a bark, and the tall Slytherin swung his head around and glared at the dog on the quay. The older man turned and looked at the dog also before looking back at Snape. 

"What is it, Severus? Afraid o' dogs noo, are we?" 

Severus Snape shook himself and looked startled. "Er, no Uncle Duncan. I'm not afraid of dogs. But that dog--" he paused, his voice dripping with suspicion. "I know I've seen that dog before--" 

"Wail, it cood be a Grim," his uncle said with a lopsided smile. "Cood be fortellin' yer airly demise." There was a hint of barely-suppressed laughter in his voice. 

Snape threw a small rag to him, making him react abruptly to catch it. "Don't be stupid. Mother always said Divination was ridiculous, _especially_ omens." His voice was dripping with disdain, as though he was incapable of discerning that his uncle was just trying to get him wound up. _That_ was the Snape James was used to; he was surprised he would speak to his uncle this way, but the older man still seemed highly amused. He tossed the rag into a pail near the edge of the foredeck. 

"C'mon, lad. I hear a pint callin' me. Ef ye behave, there just might be one callin' yer name as wail," he grinned, loping down the gangplank onto the quay, his nephew following, swinging his arms, attempting to look carefree. James' heart was in his throat. _Please behave, Sirius, please behave_, he pleaded silently, hoping his friend wouldn't go after Snape and his uncle. 

But Sirius stayed in place, fur bristling, the growl a constant low buzzing now. Snape turned and looked at the dog over his shoulder for a moment, and James ducked behind the other side of the rope-wrapped post so he wouldn't be seen. When the uncle and nephew had disappeared inside a pub that was in view of the quay ("The Tipsy Bo'sun") James emerged from his hiding place and said tersely to Sirius, "Come on, you. Nice work, being seen by Snape, of all people. Has he also seen you at school? Is that why he thinks you look familiar? That's brilliant. He _knows_ you live on the island, too. I know you can't answer right now; I prefer it that way, frankly. Damn stupid of you is all I can say. Now let's go home before you do something else to get us both into trouble." 

However, at the first opportunity, when they were in deep shadows in an alleyway branching off from the quay, Sirius changed into his human form and grabbed James' arm. "Didn't you hear Snape's uncle?" he hissed at his friend, his breath a blast of hot air in James' face. "His uncle called Lily _his girlfriend._ That slimy Slytherin! Are we just going to let this happen?" 

James shook his arm free and walked away from Sirius, speaking with his back turned so his friend couldn't see his face. "What do you mean _let this happen?_ It's none of our business, is it? It's between her and Snape," he said, his stomach in knots as he thought of Snape touching her, kissing her....He felt like bending over and spewing onto the pavement.... 

"What do you mean, _what do I mean_? What about our friend? What about _Remus_? Don't tell me you're ignorant of all that." 

James stopped in surprise; had Remus told Sirius about him and Lily, or had Sirius figured it out? He faced Sirius, but he was unable to see his friend's face in the dimness. "No," he said softly. "I'm not ignorant. But it still doesn't mean it's any of our business. Whatever is--or was--between Lily and Remus is their affair, not ours." He winced then, wishing he hadn't used the word "affair." 

"Not if Snape is stealing her away from him!" Sirius insisted after James turned and walked on. James didn't stop. 

"Don't be a prat," he threw over his shoulder. "You're just jealous because she got over the crush she had on you and didn't like the way you made a pass at her. You're not upset on Remus' behalf. This is about _you_. I still see you looking at her. You're as bad as Peter sometimes...." 

He had heard Sirius' footsteps following him as they turned onto a wider street, but now he heard them come to a halt. "All right, all right, Potter. That's where I draw the line. Comparing me to _Pettigrew._" 

James turned and glared at him; he could see Sirius' face now in the moonlight. "Cut that out, Sirius. His name is Peter. Although perhaps you're _not_ just like Peter. After all, I think she'd sooner kiss _him_ than you, the way you botched it the last time...." 

He couldn't help the laugh that escaped him as he started running flat out, knowing that as soon as he said this Sirius would be after him. They both ran for some distance in their human forms, but when James veered off and jumped over a hedge into a large garden around a grey stone house, he changed in mid-leap into his stag form, building up speed as he did so, eventually hearing the panting of the dog far behind him. 

They ran like that all the way back to the castle, and the moment he saw the loch again, James couldn't resist taking a good long drink, standing at the water's edge, while his heart pounded rapidly in his chest and the sweat ran down his hide. It was so exhilarating to run as a stag! Sirius hadn't caught him up yet, but he headed toward the cottage anyway, changing back so he could open the door. In truth, he hadn't previously said anything to Sirius about his clear crush on Lily because he felt it wasn't quite fair to tease someone about something from which he also suffered: unrequited love for Lily Evans. 

When Sirius hove into sight, he headed straight for James, who laughed and closed the door in the dog's face, knowing that Sirius would have to become human again to turn the knob. When he did, James was already heading down the steps into the passage leading back to the castle dungeons. He was at least a full flight of stairs ahead of Sirius all the way back up to their room, and had changed into his pajamas and climbed into his bed by the time Sirius had reached the top floor. Sirius glared at him when he entered the room, and undressed in brooding silence before climbing into his own bed and extinguishing the lights. 

After they had lain in their beds quietly for some minutes, Sirius said, "I asked the Rothesay harbormaster about her once. The _Patricia_, I mean. He said, 'It's a yare ship out of Dunoon, captain by the name of MacDermid. They usually tie-up in Rothesay after dark, but they do the odd yacht race.' At _night_, Prongs. Why would they need to sail at night, usually? _Why?_" 

James groaned into the darkness. "Are you still on about that? Yes, it's _very_ likely that Snape, a seventeen-year-old vampire, is participating in yacht races with his uncle on the Firth of Clyde," he said sarcastically, hoping Sirius would hear how absurd this sounded. 

"I don't care what you think; there's something very off about him, even beyond his being a Slytherin. He _definitely_ shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Lily." 

"Don't you think that's up to Lily to decide?" He secretly agreed with his best friend (not about the vampire silliness), but he couldn't bring himself to admit it, somehow. 

Sirius was silent for a minute, fuming into the darkness. James didn't say anything else, hoping he would be able to fall asleep soon, but unable to forget lying in Lily's bed, his body curled around hers.... 

At length, when he finally was starting to drift off, he wasn't sure he caught the words Sirius was mumbling into the darkness: 

"_I'm going to get Snape away from Lily if it kills me. Or him._" 

~~~~~

_Monday, 28 August, 1977_

"Bill!" 

He felt small hands pulling at him. He rolled over, pushing them away. 

"Go 'way. Sleep..." 

"_Bill!_" His eyes flew open and he blinked a few times. an orange blur was standing by his bedside. He had to blink a few more times before it ceased to be a blur. It was Peggy. Her eyes were wild and she looked like she'd been crying. He sat up in bed, looking over at Charlie, still snoring and oblivious, and Jack, who was sleeping in a camp bed between the two larger beds. Jack had been with them for a few days and would be leaving for Hogwarts with them. Early morning light was filtering into the room, a color both grey and peach. 

Bill rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Wha's wrong, Peg...?" 

Her lip trembled. "It's Daddy." 

Bill felt wide awake now. He grasped his four-year-old sister's shoulders and held her still. "What? What's happened to Dad?" He had no doubt that whatever Peggy had to tell him, it would be important. He had learned to trust her, even as he had grown increasingly wary of her premonitions. He had also cautioned her against telling just anyone that she _had_ premonitions, since there were people who didn't like people like her, people who had the Sight. He was quite certain by now that she was a Seer, and he was afraid for her. However, he had made certain that she knew she could always come to him and tell him anything. Unfortunately, she always seemed to have things to tell him when he was still in bed, asleep, and it was barely sunrise. 

He moved over and patted the mattress next to him and she scrambled into the bed, her small thin body feeling oddly cold next to his; he felt almost no body heat emanating from her through his pajamas. He held her in his arms, trying to warm her. 

"Tell me about it, Peg," he whispered to her. She looked up at him with large eyes. 

"Daddy's killed a man." 

Bill looked at her, frozen, unable to say anything. She peered up at him. "Did you hear me, Bill?" 

He shook himself. "Ye-yeah. I heard you. You're sure? It's already happened?" She nodded. "Did you know about it--before?" She started crying, nodded. 

"I hoped I was wrong," she sobbed. "And now--now Daddy is in trouble--:" 

Bill's heart was in his throat. "He is?" But that was stupid; of _course_ his father would be in trouble. 

_He'd killed a man._

Bill knew that his father had gone out on night-raid duty. Informants had given his department information about homes in which there was contraband, and Bill's father's duty was to get warrants and then go on surprise raids, which were the most successful, historically, although also dangerous. His father had been in numerous duels and had sustained some bad wounds; he had had more hexes and curses hurled at him than he could count. Bill remembered visiting his father at work and wished that that was all his father ever had to do, boring paperwork. That visit had not shown his children the full extent of the dangers his job held, especially now that so many people were falling in line behind Voldemort. 

Bill _thought_ his name, but he'd never dared say it; he always said what everyone else said: _You-Know-Who._ Bill hated knowing his dad was going on raids overnight; he always feared the worst, that they would hear, in the morning, that his father's considerable skills as a duelist had failed him, and he'd been killed by a dark wizard. 

Little did Bill realize then that there was something else to be feared. His father hadn't been killed. It was _he_ who had done the killing, and now he was in trouble. Bill swallowed. What if his father went to prison? What would they all do then? 

He looked down at Peggy, who was crying quietly, her head on his chest. He tightened his hold on her and rocked her gently. 

"Ssh, Peggy, ssh. It will be all right...." 

But he didn't know that. He could only hope. 

~~~~~~~

Lily sighed and closed her trunk, having now packed away all of the school supplies that she would need for the coming year. She had met Cecilia Ratkowski in Diagon Alley on Saturday and bought what she needed, enjoying spending time with her friend without having to compete for her attention with the Hufflepuff girls. 

Lily had driven across London in Petunia's car, at their parents behest, and after reaching the Leaky Cauldron, where she was meeting Cecilia, Petunia climbed into the driver's seat to go back down to Surrey, where she lived with her new husband, the son of the director of the Grunnings drill factory. Her sister had been very snappish about doing this; she seemed to think that, having gotten married in early June, she would no longer be requested to do things like help Lily practice driving, so she could test for her license before returning to school. (She still only had her provo.) Petunia was also whinging the entire time about being late for work at the factory; Lily wasn't sure why she needed to worry about tardiness, though, as she was now working for her father-in-law, and her husband would be taking over for his father as soon as the old man retired, in a year or two. Lily thought the only person more vile than old Mr. Dursley was his son, Vernon, and now he was her _brother-in-law_. 

Lily hadn't known about the wedding. She'd found out after returning home that Petunia had claimed that she'd sent a letter off to Lily about it, asking whether she minded it being in June, since Lily would still be at school. She'd lied to their parents and claimed that Lily had written back to say that it was fine with her. Lily had had to hide hide her shock when she learned of the wedding or risk Petunia's wrath. (She had also to put up with her father berating her, asking her why she hadn't wanted to come to the wedding she'd known nothing about.) 

Lily wasn't terrifically surprised; she had felt her sister's resentment keenly ever since Professor McGonagall had shown up at the Leicestershire house to tell her she was a witch, but she never imagined that Petunia would do such a despicable thing as purposefully exclude her own sister from her wedding. Truthfully, Lily wasn't upset about not getting to see Petunia marry Vernon Dursley, whom she avoided whenever she could. It was the _principle_ of the thing. She was Petunia's _sister._ She should have been there. When she confronted Petunia about this in the lounge at St. Michael's, while they were waiting for their mother to emerge from her chemotherapy (their father was talking to the doctor in his office) Petunia's face had turned red. 

"Do you want to know why I didn't want you at my wedding? I'll tell you! I didn't want you to turn it into a circus! I didn't want my flowers changing into slugs; I didn't want the punch to leap out of the bowl; I didn't want the cake to get up and start dancing....I just wanted a nice, _normal_ wedding with other nice _normal_ people. And for that, you just don't qualify!" 

Lily scowled. "Are we going to talk about that again?" 

"No, we are not, because _you_ evidently don't care enough about our mother to--" 

"I _can't_, Petunia! I'm not allowed!" 

"You said you're allowed to do--_that_--outside of school now that you're over seventeen!" her sister hissed, her face very close to Lily's. "You could save her life, but you won't!" 

"You don't understand. There are other laws besides restrictions on doing--_things_--while underage." 

Lily agonized over her mother. She wished she _could_ do something to save her, but she didn't have training with medical magic, and even if she did, she would be breaking the law to perform medical magic on a Muggle. However, breaking the law didn't concern her as much as the possibility of hurting her mother. She knew that if you didn't know what you were doing, you could kill someone from botching up something like trying to remove cancerous cells from a person. _What if I removed her liver, instead?_ Lily thought. Petunia had tried telling her that if she couldn't do it herself, she should find someone else who could, but then that would entail talking someone else into breaking the law. 

So, the rift between her and Petunia having grown wider than ever, Lily found herself taking a vicious delight in performing magic when Petunia was around, now that it was legal for her to do so. (And she wasn't technically breaking the law, as Petunia wasn't your average Muggle, but the sister of a witch.) She'd had such a stitch in her side from laughing after her sister had been about to drink some tea at their house one evening (Petunia had stopped by after visiting their mother in hospital, and their father hadn't come home from St. Michael's yet). The cup had turned into a small hamster in her hand. Her sister had thrown the animal violently across the table, screeching deafeningly, and if looks could kill, Lily would have been struck down dead a score of times. 

"Careful!" she'd said to her hysterical older sister. "You'll hurt it! I'm sorry," she said, her laughter barely contained. "The other teacups were all dirty, so I did a Transfiguration spell to make another one. I suppose I was still tired and it was a rather sloppy spell; it shouldn't have worn off already...." 

Petunia was looking daggers at her. "Even if it _hadn't_ worn off, how can you let me drink my tea out of--out of a filthy _rat_?" 

"It's not a rat, it's--" 

"A _mouse_, then!" she screeched. "I was going to drink my tea from a _mouse!_" 

"It's a hamster, actually," Lily told her, about to lose her composure completely. She picked up the small frightened creature, feeling its tiny heart beating rapidly against her fingers. Her sister's bottle-blonde hair was a wild halo around her head, and her blouse was spattered with spilled tea, but holding the hamster, Lily found that she was far more sorry that she'd subjected the poor hamster to her sister than the other way round. 

When Petunia marched indignantly from the house, Lily pressed her lips together, shaking with mirth, and didn't let herself laugh out loud until she heard Petunia's car door close with an angry _slam!_ When she finally let herself laugh freely, she had tears running down her face. It took some time for her to calm down, and she went to sit in the kitchen, on the couch by the fire, stroking the soft fur of the tiny hamster, wishing there was someone else to laugh with her about her little prank. _The lads would appreciate this, no doubt,_ she thought. She wished she could have gone to James' birthday party in Scotland, but her mother had been going through a particularly frightful time and she didn't dare ask for permission to go to a party instead of sitting with the rest of the family in the hospital lounge, waiting for her mother to emerge from therapy, shaking and pale and skeletal, with no eyebrows to give her face expression. Oddly, that was one of the things that had struck Lily the most: it was very hard to read her mother's expressions without the eyebrows. She'd never really considered before how much of people's emotions are communicated by those two little stretches of hair growing on the brow. 

After closing her trunk, Lily looked around her room and went to her desk, under the window which looked out on the long, narrow city garden, so different from the sprawling wilderness of the garden in Leicestershire they'd left behind when they'd moved to the city. This garden was very prim and formal, with its brick walks and raised flower beds, its evenly-spaced benches and little gurgling fountain spewing water from a pouting dolphin's mouth. She thought about the way it had looked the night before, in the moonlight, when she'd sat at her desk in the dark, staring out over the garden, and the answer to the Remus conundrum had lit up her brain like a wildfire. 

_The moon._ Every time the lads were out with Remus, she had come to realize, it had been _during the full moon._ And every time she had been with Remus, it had been right _before_ the full moon. She hadn't wanted it to be true, she had denied it and told herself it was ridiculous. And yet.... 

She recalled many things about Remus that seemed to point to the truth: the hair growth, for a start. How many teenage boys were that hairy? And he was pale, so pale.... 

She'd turned on the desk lamp and taken out her Defense Against the Dark Arts book, turning to the last chapter, on werewolves. But the longer she read, the more optimistic she became. _Of course!_ How could she have been so stupid! The headmaster would never have let a _werewolf_ into the school! She felt ashamed of having been so silly to even briefly think this could be the answer. 

She resisted the temptation now to pull the book out of the trunk again and look at the last chapter. The author of the text acknowledged that, over the centuries, many people had been erroneously labeled as werewolves because they suffered from porphyria. It also discussed people who had been erroneously labeled as vampires because of a different version of the disease. Lily couldn't quite believe it, but it seemed that _both_ boys she'd fallen for had the same disease! That explained Remus' trips to the hospital wing at odd times, and his moodiness at others. She laughed at herself again for having thought even for a moment that Remus might be a werewolf, but then she remembered that she had also briefly thought Severus might really be a vampire, after he'd kissed her under the oaks. 

She decided that when the new term started, she would tell Remus that she knew about the porphyria. Perhaps he wouldn't be so distant with her any more after that. Perhaps they could repair their relationship (perhaps they could _have_ a real relationship). She thought of Severus, and having to let him down easily. Sometimes she became fluttery, thinking of being with him, but when she was being completely honest with herself, she knew that her feelings for Remus were stronger and that she should end the relationship with Severus. She wished she hadn't written to him implying otherwise, earlier in the summer, as that would be rather hard to undo now. 

Sighing, she closed her eyes and concentrated, thinking, _Wingardium leviosa._ She knew that when she opened her eyes, many of the small objects in the room would be floating in the air. She enjoyed doing this charm as a magical exercise, without her wand, moving the small figurines and desk supplies and her clock about the room in a gentle dance. However, a moment after she performed the charm, she heard a scream come from the doorway. She whirled, finding her brother-in-law standing there, his mouth open in a horrified circle as he stared at the floating fireplace poker before him. Lily screamed as well, and lost her concentration. All of the floating objects crashed to the floor. Vernon Dursley looked at her with wide eyes before turning and bolting. 

Lily ran down the stairs after him. He was out of the house by the time she had reached the foot of the stairs. She remembered then that Petunia and Vernon were picking her up to take her to see their mother; their father had stayed the night with her. Vernon had evidently let himself into the house with Petunia's key and, when he hadn't found Lily downstairs, he'd gone up to her room to look for her. Lily closed the front door hurriedly and dashed to the car where Vernon sat, gibbering, while Petunia glared at her sister. Lily reached her hand out and opened the car door, sliding into the back seat, crossing her arms and feeling disagreeable. 

Petunia turned to her husband, stroking his shaking shoulders. "What is it, sweetums? What did my nasty sister do?" 

Her portly husband looked up at her; Lily thought it possible that he hadn't blinked since he'd left the doorway of her room. "She--she--if I told you, you'd think I was mad!" 

Lily sighed impatiently. "Don't tell me you haven't _told_ him, Petunia. After all, he's part of the family now. He should _know_." She turned to the shaking, shivering mess of a man before her. "It's very simple. I'm a witch. That's why Petunia didn't want me at the wedding. I can do magic. So, now you know." 

Petunia pointed at the car door. "_Out!_" she screeched. "Get out!" Lily looked at her in disbelief, then drew her lips into a line. 

"Fine!" she spat in return. "I'll take the tube. I'll see you there!" 

She opened the car door again and stood on the pavement; she had no sooner slammed the door than Vernon had floored the accelerator and sped off. Lily felt hot tears prickling behind her eyelids. _What did I ever do to get a sister like Petunia?_ she wondered. Sniffling for a moment, she checked her purse to see whether she had the fare for the tube, then closed it and began walking dejectedly toward the nearest station, glad that she would be returning to school in a few days. 

~~~~~

The Weasley children and their guest, Jack Richards, were uncharacteristically quiet as they sat round the large kitchen table having their tea. They were all very tense; when Charlie and Jack had awoken that morning, they'd found Peggy curled up with Bill, both of them sleeping peacefully, and when the two of them had been shaken awake, Bill explained what had happened. It turned out that Annie already knew, when they tried to tell her. (Peggy had told her first, and told her to go to Bill.) 

All day, the children had moped around the house, waiting for Arthur Weasley to come home. 

At breakfast, Bill had asked his mother when their father was returning, and she had been very flustered, responding nervously, "He--your father owled me. He's been detained. I mean--he still has to stay at the office for a bit longer. Because of last night's raids. Don't you worry about your dad." 

But while she said this she looked very worried herself. Bill had gone into the living room to report to the others. Annie sat in a chair near the fire, looking very disgruntled. "We'll have to emigrate," she said at last. 

"What?" Charlie said scornfully. "Are you daft? Why would we have to emigrate?" 

"Because our father is a murderer, stupid, that's why. How is Mum going to support us all once Dad's in prison? No one will give her a job, the wife of a murderer. We'll have to go to Canada or Australia or something." 

No one had anything to say to that. They tried to imagine living somewhere else, and specifically, living without their father, and couldn't. 

Oblivious to his siblings' worries, Percy toddled over to Peggy, who was sitting cross-legged on the hearth-rug, and deposited himself comfortably in her lap, as though she was an armchair. He looked up at her and smiled, and she brightened and smiled back, hugging him to her. Then suddenly, Bill saw her jaw go slack and her eyes became vacant and opaque. He felt an irrational apprehension grip him. 

"Peggy! Peggy!" he cried. After a few moments, she finally came round, looking up in surprise. 

"What?" 

"You--you were--" Bill couldn't finish. She smiled at him. 

"Oh, Bill! It's all right. It will be all right. Daddy will be home later," she said calmly, rocking back and forth, humming to Percy. 

He hesitated. "Are you sure?" 

She looked him in the eye and simply and calmly said, "Yes." 

But Bill was not feeling very optimistic when they had finished their tea and were helping to clear the table, and Dad _still_ was not home. They were all just about to leave the kitchen when a sudden _pop_! was heard near the cooker, and Bill turned to see his father, tired and unshaven, his shabby old work robes looking shabbier than ever. He was taking off his glasses so he could rub his eyes. 

"_Dad!_" Bill cried with relief, diving across the room. Charlie followed, then Peggy. He enveloped them in a warm embrace, while Jack stood to one side, smiling shyly. 

"Good to see you, Mr. Weasley." Arthur Weasley nodded at the boy. 

"It's good to be back, Jack." He laughed then, because he'd rhymed, and picked Peggy up, her thin legs and arms wrapped around him. He held out his hand to Annie. "Where's my other girl? Where's my Annie-girl?" he grinned at her. 

Annie looked back at him truculently and his face fell. He swallowed. The cheerful atmosphere suddenly evaporated. 

"Er, well. I need to speak to Mum now, everybody. You lot go into the other room, all right? This may take a while." 

Bill herded the others into the living room, closing the kitchen door behind him. But once he was in the living room, all he could do was pace nervously. Jack tried to calm him down. 

"Sit, Bill. I'm sure it's--" 

"No. No," he repeated, wringing his hands. "I--I can't not _know_...." 

Jack raised his eyebrows at him. Charlie stood and approached them. His brother motioned toward the door. 

"Go on, then. Tell us what they say." 

Bill looked at the two of them, then at the girls, playing with Percy on the rug. He nodded grimly. 

"All right. But if I get caught, this was my idea and you tried to stop me." 

Charlie pushed him toward the door. "Oh, stop being noble for once and just get out there and eavesdrop on our parents." He was grinning at Bill, who grinned back at him. When he was standing in the corridor between the two rooms, he moved tentatively toward the kitchen door, trying not to make a sound, and put his ear to the wood, holding his breath. 

"Oh, Arthur!" he heard his mother say. "They didn't!" 

"It's all right, love, it's all right. It's--it's not too bad being around dementors for a short time. I'm fine now..." His father's voice was shaking. 

"Nonsense! I'm making you some hot chocolate..." 

A few moments later, Bill heard his father slurping something. "Mm, that's just right, Molly. Thanks. Alastor fetched me some chocolate at the Ministry, but I suppose I could do with more..." 

"Just tell me what happened, Arthur. Your owl was so cryptic." 

Bill heard his father sigh noisily. "We received a tip that this large manor house had contraband stashed in the library. So we went--Perkins and Alastor and I--and I showed them the warrant and they were just as shocked as you please. 'Contraband? Here? Surely not!' You know the sort. Innocent as lambs, right up until the point when I find the illegal material... 

"So there I am, searching the library, taking all of these ruddy dusty books off the shelves and flipping through them, to look for book boxes, and Perkins is going through the desk and Alastor is guarding the doorway into the entrance hall. The owner comes to the door and asks whether he can get us anything to drink. Well, you know Alastor; won't drink anything that doesn't come from his hip flask. I was parched and had dust in my throat, but I felt it wiser to turn him down. It may not have been a trick, but if it was, who knows what he might really have been giving us to drink? 

"At any rate, Perkins didn't find anything in the desk and I wasn't finding anything either, and we were starting to wonder whether we were being led on a merry chase. The owner's son came to the door and suggested that someone who didn't like his dad was trying to make him look bad--and then I found something. I tried flipping through a book and found that I couldn't. It was a box. I broke the locking charm on it and the son started for me, but Alastor held him in check. 

"But then I found the mother-lode. A bookcase that wasn't a bookcase at all--it was a door. I was trying to break the charm keeping it closed when the son yelled for his father, who came in blasting away at me. I dodged his first attempt, but his second caught me on the leg..." 

"Oh, Arthur! Are you--" 

"Molly, calm down. Minor burns. I've been treated. The thing is--he--he stunned Alastor and then--then he--" 

Bill thought his father just might be breaking down and crying. He heard his mother crooning to him, and finally, tears in his voice, his father began speaking again. 

"It's as bad as they say it is, Molly. Like knives piercing every inch of your body at the same time that you're being burned alive...." 

Bill's knees felt weak. He'd read descriptions of what the Cruciatus Curse felt like, but to imagine his father suffering that was just horrible. 

"When he took the curse off me, the first thing I did was to revive Alastor, who went after the son and bound him up good while I disarmed the father. However--there was a problem--" 

"What, Arthur?" 

His father sighed. "Well, he was trying to curse me again." 

His mother gasped in horror. "Not the Cruciatus _again_?" 

"No. This time--" He paused, and Bill waited, his heart in his throat. "This time he wasn't just trying to hurt me. He was aiming to kill." 

"_Arthur!_" 

His father sounded like he was crying again. "I had to do it quickly. I would have been dead if I'd waited any longer....His wand came flying toward me, and I caught it. He went flying backwards. The trouble was, he had this collection of armor in the entrance hall. Flew right into it, and this pike came down on him, right through his--right through his neck." Bill covered his mouth in horror. "Other things, too. He was a mess. Bit of a chain reaction, all of those weapons on display, and him barreling right into them...." 

He cleared his throat and Bill heard him slurping his hot chocolate. "Well, Alastor and Perkins testified to its being self-defense, of course, but the son was insisting I'd killed his dad in cold blood...." 

"How--how old was the lad?" 

Bill's father laughed. "Not exactly a lad. Well, not old either. But out of school. Early twenties. He's threatening all kinds of bad publicity now. Fudge was trying to pacify him. I don't know why he was bothering; we probably should lock up the son for attempting to alert his father that we were going to get into that hidden chamber. Trouble is, I don't know when we'll next be able to get in there and look around, and by then, the son will probably have it cleaned out. I've been going through interrogation all day, Molly. I'm so tired I could sleep for a week...." 

"Well, I'll tell the children not to disturb you so you can get up bright and early tomorrow morning and go in to--" 

"No. I'm, er, suspended for a fortnight." 

"_What?_" Bill's mother was indignant. 

"Routine. Until the inquiry is over. Crouch is convinced I'll be fine, no charges." He sighed yet again. "I can tell, you, though, Molly, I was very worried for a while there. Kept picturing you having the baby all by yourself--" 

"Don't you fret about that. I'm only a month or so along. Well, six weeks. I'm just glad you're not--you're not--" 

Then Bill heard something that sounded distinctly like kissing. "I'm fine, Molly. Now that I'm here with you, I'm fine. Young Lucius Malfoy won't trouble us." 

Bill heard the chairs scrape on the floor and he quickly crept back to the living room, closing the door quietly. He put his finger before his lips to tell Jack and his siblings to be quiet, and a moment later, his father had come into the room, beaming at them all, but still with a shadow behind his blue eyes. 

"So, how was your day?" he asked them, as though they hadn't spent the entire day worried that he was going to prison for murder. Annie stood and stalked to the door. She glared at her father before leaving. Bill wondered whether she still thought they'd have to emigrate. Or whether she considered their father to be a murderer. 

As far as he was concerned, he had the best dad in the world. He looked at him with shining eyes. 

"Better, now that you're home," he told his father, who pulled Bill to him in a tight hug, tears flowing down his face. Bill held onto his father, heedless of what Jack and Charlie might think, and was very glad he wasn't going to have to be the man of the family at the age of thirteen. 

~~~~~~~

_Monday, 18 September, 1977_

"Where are we going, Severus?" 

Her boyfriend, in response, pulled her to him and lowered his mouth to hers. She slid her arms up around his neck, feeling her pulse quicken as she responded to the kiss. When he pulled back from her, he said, "It's a surprise." 

He took her hand, smiling, and Lily thought he'd never looked happier or handsomer as she tripped after him. _I made the right decision,_ she told herself again. _Being with Severus feels right._

She hadn't been able to wait to talk to Remus at the beginning of the term and she'd gone to see him in the compartment on the Hogwarts Express that he was sharing with Sirius and Peter. He'd looked nervous about it, but he'd gone with her to the compartment she'd been sharing with James; she had asked him whether he could give them some privacy, and James had agreed, although his facial expression was rather odd and didn't seem to match his words. 

Once she'd been alone with Remus in the compartment, she'd spilled out her heart to him. 

"Remus," she'd begun, sitting next to him, putting her hand on his, where it rested on his knee. "I--I know. About you. I know what your--your illness is." He opened his eyes wide, and she tried to reassure him. "Sssh! It's all right. I'm fine with it. Why shouldn't I be? Severus has the same problem." Now Remus looked as pale as parchment. "But he told me about it himself. Why couldn't you have told me? Why didn't you think I'd understand? Is it because it's hereditary, because your children may have it too? I don't care about that--" 

Now Remus was frowning. "Erm, Lily, I don't think you--you _do_ quite understand--" 

She smiled and put her hands on his shoulders. "I know you don't _think_ I do, but that's obviously why you didn't tell me you have porphyria!" 

Silence. Everlasting silence. 

"What?" Remus finally sputtered. "I--_what?_" 

"And I don't care, Remus! I don't! For a minute I thought--no, I can't tell you. You'll think I'm daft if I do..." 

She saw him swallow nervously. "W-what? What did you think?" 

She laughed and stroked the side of his face. "I actually considered that you might be a werewolf. So stupid! But then I read about people who had porphyria being _mistaken_ for werewolves, and I already knew something about it because of Severus, and it all started to make sense..." 

And then he gasped as she climbed onto his lap and slid her arms around his neck. "But I want you to know that even though you didn't tell me, I forgive you. I've wanted to tell you this for so long....I was never with you as a friend, Remus," she whispered, her mouth millimeters away from his. "I love you--I have done, for the better part of two years. I love you and nothing you can tell me about yourself can change my mind about that, because I know your secret now, so there's nothing you can use as an excuse for our not being together...." 

She spoke quickly, afraid she would lose her nerve, and then she was kissing him and he was making that animal noise in the back of his throat that she loved, and his arms tightened around her and she felt a surge of happiness swell up in her heart so that she thought it would burst. He was kissing her back; he felt the same! She slid the fingers of her right hand into the hair at the back of his head, loving the silkiness of it, loving the taste and feel of him. But then suddenly, his muscles stiffened and he pulled back from her, standing abruptly, making her fall to the floor. 

"No--no, Lily. I'm sorry--I can't do this. I can't pretend that--that I feel the same. I would be taking advantage of you. To let you believe--I couldn't do that. When we agreed it was--that we were just friends, it was one thing. But--but I can't--" 

She looked up from the floor, feeling her heart shattering. Then she remembered something. "Wait! You're lying! You--you told me you loved me! That _was_ you, wasn't it? In the infirmary! I thought it was a dream at first, but I don't think so now....You thought I was asleep and you apologized for hurting me, and told me you loved me...." 

Remus looked very open and vulnerable, but then he shook his head adamantly. "No, Lily, you're wrong. That _was_ a dream. I--I only think of you as a friend, Lily. A friend who was--who was very accommodating. But if you--if you think you have feelings for me--I don't see how we can--I mean, I would just be leading you on--" 

He bolted for the door, and she screamed at him, "Liar!" The tears were streaming down her face. His words had been so hurtful, but the entire time, the look of love on his face had been unmistakable. How could he stand there, looking like that, and _lying_ to her about this? And if he loved her, why wouldn't he want her to feel the same way? 

When he slid open the compartment door, he came face to face with Severus Snape; James was standing next to him, trying to pull him away from the door. Remus stopped abruptly, then pushed past the tall Slytherin. Lily scrambled to her feet, wiping her tears from her face hastily, as Severus and James were giving her odd looks. 

"Oh, er, Severus. What are you doing here?" 

"Well--you said you needed to talk to me about something when we reached Hogwarts. But I couldn't wait." He looked pointedly at James' hand on his upper arm and James removed it, looking reluctant. 

Lily saw James swallow before he said, "I think I'll go sit with my mates. So they know being Head Boy hasn't changed me." Lily noticed that he was behaving as strangely as Remus, though; his words also didn't match his facial expression. He looked like the last thing in the world he wanted to do was leave her alone with Severus Snape. In spite of this, he set off in the same direction as Remus. Lily looked nervously at Severus. 

"Won't--won't you come in?" she said, her voice shaking. He stepped into the compartment and gave her the same look Remus had given her, the look of love, but somehow Lily didn't think he was going to run away from her if she said she felt the same way. She watched him, thinking, _How could I have been so thick? How could I have thought Remus would want to be with me?_ But it was precisely because she knew that look; the real mystery was why he wouldn't admit it, why he was running from her now. 

They sat together and Severus took her hands in his, which were wind-roughened from sailing, although there was no hint of a tan. 

"What did you want to tell me, Lily?" 

She looked into his dark eyes and ached. He cared so for her. She should return that. She should stop being a dolt and see what was right in front of her. 

"There's something I haven't said to you, and I've waited so long. I--I just hope you'll forgive me for not doing it sooner...." She swallowed again before saying, in a rush, "I love you, Severus." It was just the opposite of what she'd really been planning to tell him, but it was still true. She _did_ love him--just not as much as Remus. She'd been very nervous about breaking it off with Severus, as she didn't want to hurt him. This was far better, she thought. Remus did me a favor.... 

He smiled then, the deep dimples in his cheeks looking deeper than she'd ever seen them, and she was glad she'd said it, glad she'd made him so happy. As he lowered his mouth to hers, she pushed away the memory of Remus, wondering again what she could have been thinking, trying to forget it had ever happened, that she'd ever been with anyone else.... 

The day before, on Sunday, Lily had seen that Remus was in misery, the kind of misery she had previously "helped" him with. She made a point of going up to the Owlery and using Calliope to send a note to Severus, asking him to meet her in the Potions dungeon. There they talked and kissed (no one ever went there on Sundays) and made plans to sneak out of their dorms to meet the next evening. Lily knew that if Remus and the others followed their usual pattern, the night after Remus' "problems," they would all be out of Gryffindor Tower, and she could meet with Severus without risking running into any of them. _Remus may not really be a werewolf,_ she thought, _but he certainly has an unhealthy attraction to the full moon. Maybe it makes him feel better...._

She had tried to talk to James about it, tried to tell him she knew that Remus had porphyria. His jaw dropped. "No, he doesn't," he said, frowning, then walking away from her, not saying anything else. She didn't know what to think. Was he covering up for Remus still, not realizing Lily knew? 

She had watched them leave, after dinner; first the others slipped away when they thought no one was watching, then Madam Pomfrey came to get Remus. _Why would Madam Pomfrey come to get him if he didn't have porphyria?_ she thought. She went upstairs to her dorm to take a nap, so she would be wide awake later. When her roommates came to bed, their noise awoke her, but she feigned sleep, waiting for them to settle down before creeping from her bed, fully clothed, and descending the stairs to the common room. 

_She was going to give herself to Severus completely._ She shivered at the thought; it was something she'd been putting off, as she had still been fixated on Remus, but now she felt that she was able to move on and have the kind of relationship with Severus that he'd clearly wanted to have for some time. (He'd never pressured her, but she had been able to tell how frustrated he'd been.) 

At twelve-thirty exactly, she opened the portrait and crept from Gryffindor Tower, finding Severus waiting for her in the corridor, where she'd told him to be. He looked surprised to see the portrait swing out from the stone wall, and then the smoldering look he gave her took her breath away. To be so loved and wanted was almost frightening. He was so _intense_ sometimes. She reached out her hand and he enveloped it in his, never taking his eyes from hers. 

"Where are we going, Severus?" 

After he kissed her, he said, "It's a surprise." 

They sped along the corridors, hand in hand, going down to the dungeons and then to a very familiar area, to a particular room, making Lily's brow break out in nervous perspiration, hoping she was wrong about where they were going.... 

But it was far different than it had been when she'd been here with Remus. Severus had done it over completely, including repairing the door and putting a good locking spell on it. The formerly dusty, cobwebby trysting room was devoid of everything except a beautiful wrought-iron bed with a combination of red and green draperies. And _candles_....There must have been a hundred candles around the room of different sizes and shapes, adding a golden sheen to everything.. 

And then Severus added the finishing touch, and he pulled a book of music out from underneath the bed; the title proclaimed that it was a series of string quartets, and Lily frowned, hoping he wasn't going to conjure musicians, as she didn't fancy anyone--even conjured people--being present at a time like this. However, he tapped the book with his wand and said, "_Harmonia mundi_," and suddenly, from the pages of the book, the music emerged as though a string quartet really were present, playing soft, romantic melodies, the harmonies intertwining and supporting each other. The book lay on the floor now, open, and as the music progressed, the pages turned of their own accord, slowly flipping as though being moved by an unseen hand. 

Lily laughed, watching and listening. "You've thought of everything, Severus," she said, delighted. He stood and looked at her, suddenly very serious, and when she saw that, she stopped laughing. 

"I love you, Lily," he said, his eyes burning into hers. She felt like she had stopped breathing for a moment. 

"I love you, Severus," she whispered. And if she didn't feel it quite as strongly as him, did it really matter? She _did_ feel it, she did want to be with him, especially at this moment. She felt overwhelmed with the need to touch him, and walked toward him tentatively, hoping he wouldn't ask her whether she'd ever been with someone else, because she didn't want to lie to him, but she didn't want him to know the truth, either. _If he just doesn't ask...._

But soon, there was no conversation at all, just the sound of the music and their breathing and occasional gasps and other vocal, but not verbal, reactions. He was holding her and kissing her ravenously, and she was shuddering against him, feeling his desire for her, glad that it was nothing like being with Remus, with his odd snuffling at her neck and hands, the eerie red glow in his eyes.... 

Severus unbuttoned her robes and slid them from her shoulders and she did the same for him. He started fumbling with her clothes then, but she stopped him. "It's all right," she whispered. "I'll take care of it." She removed her blouse and skirt, her tights and shoes, and stood facing him in nothing but her underwear. She felt slightly ridiculous, as she was so tall and thin, not curvaceous, like other girls. She was suddenly very glad that she and Remus had usually met in darkness, and wished she dared extinguish every candle in the room; they no longer seemed romantic, but as though they were highlighting every physical flaw she possessed. 

He had removed everything but his drawers, moving very quickly, and she gasped at the sight of him. "Severus," she whispered in awe. She truly hadn't expected him to be so beautiful; his skin was like alabaster, his calves and thighs strong and muscular, his chest and arms...He was like a sculpture by Michelangelo, he was perfection. 

Now she felt more self-conscious than ever, more inadequate than ever. _What does he see in me?_ she wondered, putting her hand over her stomach, glancing down at her chest. _I don't even fill my bra cups. I look like an idiot..._

Severus took her in his arms, brushing her hair from her face, and she looked up at him, startled to see the incredible desire there. When his mouth came down on hers, it was with a new kind of hunger, and this was more familiar now; Remus had kissed her like this. _No, no, don't think about Remus!_ His mouth traveled down her throat, then further, and she felt his hands behind her, unclasping her bra, gently sliding it down her arms. 

When he took her left breast in his mouth, she thought she would melt from the warmth spreading out from her loins, then through her limbs. He knelt before her and she bent over him, his hands on her bottom, gently taking the elastic of her knickers and drawing them down over her hips, her thighs. Then he switched to the other breast, and caressed her, moving his hands here, there, everywhere, constantly surprising her, as though he wanted to touch her everywhere at once and couldn't decide on just one spot. 

She gasped and straightened up, moving toward the bed. He watched her, his eyes dilated, and when he stood and finally removed his drawers, Lily felt so warm she was afraid she'd backed into a candle and set herself on fire. He joined her on the bed, and it was so wonderful to feel his skin on hers, to be able to touch him everywhere, to have the time to explore and experiment.... 

After a time, he was lying down and she was sitting astride him, and the look in his eyes spoke of such love that Lily couldn't bear it any more. She had to tell him, at least a little. She couldn't pretend she'd never made love before. He'd _know_. 

"Severus," she whispered. He put his hand on her cheek and smiled at her. 

"Yes, love?" Her heart skipped a beat; he'd never called her that before. She tried not to feel foolish for liking it a great deal. 

"I feel I should tell you--I'm not a virgin. I--I made a mistake. _He_ was a mistake. He--he said he never loved me. I don't want to say who it was," she added quickly, when he looked like he was going to ask. "I just wanted to be honest with you. I didn't want--I don't want you to think I've never--I mean--" 

"Sssh," he said softly, his hand cupping her cheek lovingly. "I don't care. If anything--well, if you have more experience than I do, that's not such a bad thing, is it? You can tell me, er, what you like--" 

She bent down and kissed him softly on the lips, then moved her mouth down his throat and onto his chest, gently licking each of his nipples in turn. "Everything you've done so far," she whispered to his shining skin. He moaned under her and then reached down to grasp her hips. 

"Could we--do you want to--?" he gasped. 

"Are you ready?" she asked him, raising her head. He nodded vigorously. 

"God, yes! I've _been_ ready!" 

She laughed and kissed him again, then shifted her hips and moved down carefully, so that she was engulfing him. He squeezed his eyes shut, and his hands on her hips were almost painful. 

"_Oh, Lily_...." 

As she moved above him and he met her movements with upward thrusts of his hips, she guided his hands to her body, showing him where to touch her, and he obliged, soon making her cry out as the sensations rolled through her, so that when she closed her eyes, she saw stars and felt tingling in every nerve ending she had, it seemed. When he could tell she was sated, he held her to him tightly and gently rolled her over, continuing to move above her while they kissed, and soon after that she felt him shuddering too, as she held him to her with her legs, so tightly it felt like she'd made him a part of her, and she gave a small gasp as another, smaller tremor moved through her and left as quickly as it had come. 

She smiled up at him, loving the amazed expression on his face, incredibly glad that she had decided to be with him, and also glad that he hadn't been upset that she wasn't a virgin. Who else would take that news as well as he had? she thought. Granted, he was about to stop being a virgin himself, and being upset with her would probably have meant prolonging his sexual inexperience.... 

She felt him remove himself from her, and he lay down beside her, grasping her around the waist. She began to feel self-conscious about her body again. Severus, however, didn't seem to care; he was gazing at her as though nothing else in the world existed, and she gazed back at him, trying to comprehend how she could be so lucky. 

They burrowed under the covers, still unclothed, and Lily wanted to sleep like that always, skin to skin with Severus' arms locked around her possessively. When she awoke hours later, she found him watching her intently, as though he'd been awake for some time, and she felt a hunger such as she had never known overtake her, as she reached for him and made him gasp, and it started all over again.... 

~~~~~

_Tuesday, 19 September, 1977_

James crept through the corridors carefully, hidden under the Invisibility Cloak. He was moving ahead of Remus and Peter and Sirius, a one-man advance guard, making sure their way was clear. When he'd seen Filch several times (how did the man get into the places he did so quickly? James had wondered more than once) he'd retreated and gone back to the others, changing their route. Remus was exhausted, being supported by Sirius while Peter trailed behind, and James wasn't so certain they shouldn't be taking him to Madam Pomfrey. He'd insisted, however, that he wanted to go up to his own bed. 

He finally reached the corridor outside the Gryffindor common room without running into Filch again, and when he did, he froze, not expecting the sight before him.... 

The Fat Lady was slumbering in her portrait, snoring softly. Lily and Snape were standing before her, their arms around each other, kissing deeply. James felt an anger boil through him such as he had never felt before. _You get your hands off her!_ he raged inside, feeling like sobbing and hexing Snape all at once. He tried not to see how intent Lily was on kissing him back; the idea of her being with him made him feel so odd and hollow inside. _She doesn't love you,_ he reminded himself for the millionth time. _You're like a brother to her._ When they broke the kiss, she put her head on Snape's chest, practically humming with contentment, and James both wanted to avert his eyes and gaze at her forever. 

After they had been standing there like that for a minute, she raised her head and kissed him lightly on the cheek. 

"I--oh, Severus, last night was just..." She stopped, clearly at a loss for words, and James thought his head would explode. _Noooo!_ he screamed inside. They didn't! They _couldn't!_ She--him-- 

He stood watching them, unseen, his throat tight, trying not to think of them being together. _I'm as bad as Sirius or Peter,_ he thought. _Yearning after her, wanting her, when she doesn't want me._

But trying to talk sense into himself was doing no good. He couldn't take it any more. He whipped off the Invisibility Cloak and stood with his wand pointed at Snape, his face contorted in fury, his mind clouded by hate and rage. 

"_Get your hands off her_." He clenched his jaw shut again after he spoke, breathing through his nose. Lily's eyes widened when she saw him. 

"James! Stop that! Put your wand away!" she scolded him. 

Lily removed her wand from her robes and pointed it at James, her arm shaking. _How dare he?_ she thought. _Just because I treat him like a brother doesn't mean he really _is_ my brother...._

They heard footsteps then, and all three of them turned to see Sirius, Remus and Peter coming round the corner. Remus was clearly utterly exhausted, limping slightly, leaning on Sirius. Pettigrew brought up the rear, looking nervous. 

"What's going on?" Lily wanted to know. "Where have the four of you been all night?" _Will I ever get a straight answer about this?_ she wondered. 

James was incredulous. "What? You're asking _us_ that? When it's obvious that you two..." 

"But you do this all the time! And you never--you never talk to me about it--" her face started to crumple, and she swallowed, struggling now to stay in control. "I thought we were friends," she said softly, directing this at James in particular. He squirmed, looked at his three other friends, then back at her. 

"I can't tell you Lily. Believe me, you wouldn't want to know..." 

Sirius looked defiant. "Anyway, shouldn't he go climb back into his coffin?" he sneered at Snape. "The sun's up." 

Snape moved forward and grabbed Sirius, shoved him up against the stone wall, his face a mere inch away from the other black-haired boy. "I'm tired of you, Black," he hissed softly. "Watch your back." Then he shook himself and stepped back from Sirius, still angry. He walked to Lily, put his arms around her and kissed her soundly, then glared at the others and strode away. 

Lily watched him go, then turned away from the boys and ran after him. "Severus!" she called down the corridor, heedless of being discovered. "Severus!" She turned a corner and practically plowed into him. She grasped his arms to support herself, looking up at him intently. 

"Help me," she said softly. 

"Anything," he said to her, meaning it. 

She panted, trying to catch her breath still. Then she finally lifted her eyes to his again. 

"Help me find out their secret. Help me find out what they do and where they go on the nights of the full moon. _Tonight_. Promise me!" 

He looked down at her, wondering why it mattered to her so much. He thought of the look on James Potter's face when he'd taken off the Invisibility Cloak. What was she to Potter? He knew that Pettigrew had a crush on Lily and that Sirius Black had made a pass at her, and he was unsure about what Remus Lupin was to her, but he was fairly certain Lupin also cared a great deal about Lily. Could she be oblivious to all that? he wondered. Did she have no idea how she affected all of them? 

"I promise, Lily," he said quietly, kissing her on the brow. She watched him turn and stride away, her heart pounding in her chest. _Soon I'll know,_ she thought, trying to be comforted by the idea. 

_I'll know._

~~~~~ 

The wan early light cast a misty glow over the objects in the third-year dorm. Bill Weasley rolled over in bed restlessly; he never slept well when the moon was full. The night seemed to be so full of howls.... 

There seemed to be a great scuffling in the stairwell leading up to the boys' dorms. Bill went to the door of the third-years' dorm and opened it a crack; he saw some black-robed figures on the landing, but could make out no faces in the small opening he had created. He didn't dare open it farther. Then, just as he was closing it, he heard a voice whisper the name, "Sirius." He might have imagined it; it was such a sibillant word, anyone whispering could be mistaken for saying it. At least, Bill might think that a plausible explanation if he didn't then hear Sirius Black's voice say, "Are you all right, Remus?" 

Then he heard some more scuffling on the stone flags, and then the sound of the older boys continuing to climb the stairs. Bill opened the door cautiously when he was sure they were gone. He swallowed; Remus' friends had gone out with him under the full moon again. It felt strange being the only other person who knew about it. He hadn't told Charlie, either, although he had warned him that under _no circumstances_ was he to leave Gryffindor Tower when the moon was full. 

Bill heard a familiar noise just as he was about to go back into his dorm; the creak of the portrait hole opening. He crept down the stairs carefully, wondering who else had been out during the night. When he reached the bottom, he found Lily Evans crossing the common room to go to the stairs to the girls' dorms. He was so still as he stood in the doorway to the boys' stairs that she didn't take any notice of him. 

Bill shrugged and went back up the stairs. He reckoned it made sense for Lily to know about Remus Lupin. He wondered briefly why she had come in by herself, instead of with the others, but as he climbed under the covers, this thought left his mind and he closed his eyes again, trying to get a few hours more sleep before breakfast. Now that the moon had set, he felt he could really sleep. 

Sometimes he really wished he didn't know that Remus Lupin was a werewolf.... 

~~~~~~~ 

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	8. The Prank

**Title:** The Lost Generation (1975-1982) (08/20)  
**Author name:** Barb  
**Author email:** psychic_serpent@yahoo.com  
**Category:** Mystery  
**Sub Category:** Romance  
**Keywords:** MWPP Lily Snape Bill Weasley  
**Rating:** R  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA, Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent, Harry Potter and the Time of Good Intentions  
**Summary:** Bill Weasley begins his education at Hogwarts in 1975, in the middle of Voldemort's reign of terror. He never suspects that the Gryffindor prefects he looks up to, Lily Evans and James Potter, will eventually have a son who saves the wizarding world, nor that the Weasley family will eventually play an important role in the Dark Lord's fall. All he knows is that in a very scary wizarding world, Hogwarts is a safe haven where he has always longed to be--until, that is, there are whispers of vampires and werewolves, of Death Eaters and traitors, and a Seeress pronounces a Prophecy which will shake the wizarding world to its very foundations....  
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.   
**Author notes:** _The Lost Generation_ is the prequel to the _Psychic Serpent Trilogy_, which begins with _Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent_. There are events and characters mentioned which appear in other books in the trilogy (such as two Weasley sisters who were born between Charlie and Percy). While it is not absolutely necessary to read the trilogy first (the third book is in progress) it may be helpful in some respects. A FAQ file concerning the entire story arc is also available on the Psychic_Serpent Yahoo Group website (link is on author page)..  


* * *

**The Lost Generation**

(1975-1982)

Chapter Eight

** The Prank**

  
  
  


_Tuesday, 19 September, 1977_

"Now, none of you may have the Sight--it is _very_ rare--but you _can_ train your Inner Eye to see what is before you, to gaze into a teacup with spent tea leaves and read a fortune. Reading tea leaves--or _tasseomancy_--has its origin in _oinomancy_, a practice in ancient Rome of reading the sediment left in a wine glass. Please take out your copies of _Unfogging the Future_..." 

Professor Trelawney was speaking in the misty voice that Bill had already become accustomed to in not quite three weeks of Divination classes. Now that he was in third year, he had selected Divination for one of his new classes, because Alex and Jack were both taking it, and because it sounded easy. He had hesitated to take Ancient Runes, but was finding that quite fascinating, especially Egyptian hieroglyphics, even though it was very challenging. Divination had turned out to be more work than he anticipated, trying to memorize what dozens of possible shapes in the bottom of a teacup might mean, and Trelawney was also one of the most annoying people he'd ever met. In contrast, Professor el-Madi was a pleasant man with a lilting Moroccan accent that fell easily on the ear, and he was partial to very bad puns which nonetheless kept his students chuckling even as they were groaning. Bill always enjoyed his Runes classes, and dreaded Divination. 

The Hufflepuff boy, Geoff, was also in his Divination class. Bill had gotten to know him a little better, since he was one of Jack Richard's roommates. He was very nice, and had a lot of interesting stories about traveling around during the summer while his father performed at one Gilbert and Sullivan festival after another. (G & S shows were a staple of many village fetes around England.) Bill had offered to tutor him in Transfiguration and Charms, which were easily his best classes, but Geoff had politely declined, calling himself a hopeless case. He was always in a good mood, however, and Bill enjoyed hanging about with him and Jack. He'd invited Alex to join them many times, but Alex was going off by himself a great deal since the term had begun, and he hadn't answered any of the owls Bill had sent him over the summer. Whenever Bill said he was worried about him (he thought he was still not over Orville's death, and possibly also blaming Bill for their friend's death) he waved Bill off impatiently, calling him a mother hen and proclaiming that he just wanted to be left alone. 

Bill didn't push it, but he felt uneasy about it at the same time, as though Alex were a ticking bomb, or a Howler that was being ignored. Leave it for too long and eventually you would have a very big problem. Yet--he couldn't exactly put Alex into a full-body-bind and force him to talk about the way he was feeling. He'd have to bide his time and just wait for Alex to be ready. Bill was thirteen going on fourteen. He wasn't especially wanting a deep and meaningful talk with Alex about Orville, anyway. 

Bill, Jack and Geoff sat at a small table in Trelawney's stifling hot round tower room, the perfumed air making them feel a bit dizzy, drinking what was possibly the most tasteless tea Bill had ever had and preparing to read their fortunes in the tea leaves. A couple of Slytherin girls--Miriam Broadbent and Raisa Czaikowski--were also in the class, sitting together at a small table, drinking their tea. No other Slytherins were present. There were no Ravenclaws present at all; Bill had heard that everyone in Ravenclaw warned the third years off taking classes with Trelawney. Any Ravenclaw who did so would probably be laughed out of their house. Booth and Leonard weren't present, as they were taking Arithmancy. Bill glanced out of the corner of his eye at Alex, who was sitting with Mary Ann Boxwood. Bill suspected he may have gotten over his need to deny that he liked her. They talked a great deal and she seemed to like him quite a lot, also. 

Bill, on the other hand, found it very hard not to look at Juliet Hathaway since third year had started. She suddenly seemed much older, and could easily be mistaken for being a fourth or fifth year. Bill couldn't help notice how her golden brown curls were glowing in the candlelight as she sat with Wallis Cassell, peering into her teacup. Suddenly, Wallis looked up and caught Bill's eye and smiled slyly at him. He widened his eyes in alarm and looked down at his cup again, panicked that she might think he liked _her_ instead of Juliet. He'd rather gotten the impression since the beginning of the term that Wallis had a crush on him, and it had been next to impossible to even make innocuous remarks to Juliet with Wallis (her best friend) hovering nearby, batting her eyes at him. 

_Oh well_, he thought. Very few students in third year started pairing off usually, even when there _were_ Hogsmeade trips. It wasn't even usual for students in their fourth year to start dating. Most of that didn't start until fifth year, and even then, most fifth year students were consumed with the impending O.W.L.s. If he didn't have a girlfriend for a while yet, Bill thought, he would certainly be in good company. 

Trelawney clapped her hands and instructed the students to trade teacups to do their readings. Bill handed his to Geoff, Geoff handed his to Jack and Jack gave his to Bill. Bill peered down into the cup at the dark lump of debris, trying to discern some shape. There were also some scattered damp leaves clinging to the side of the cup. _Am I supposed to make something of those, too?"_ he wondered. He frowned into the delicate china cup, unsure what to say, wondering whether he should just make something up. 

Jack frowned into Geoff's cup. "I'm not sure what to call this. It's either a shoe or a question mark, depending which way you turn it. What does that mean?" 

Geoff blanched. Bill had already seen why he had been sorted into Hufflepuff; he was very hardworking. He seemed to have memorized the entire section on tea leaves in _Unfogging the Future._ "A question mark? Or a shoe? Is that what you said?" 

Jack nodded. "I don't see what else it could be...What does it mean?" 

Geoff swallowed. "Change. If it's a shoe, it means a change of career. A question mark means a more general sort of uncertainty or change. But they're both similar, so I'm not sure it matters...." His voice had become very soft. "I should have known this would happen..." 

Bill and Jack frowned at each other. "What are you talking about?" Bill asked him. "Look in mine. Tell me what my future holds," he said, smirking. 

Geoff grimaced. "I see more than one thing. That happens sometimes," he added authoritatively. "A key inside a triangle. The key means that a mystery will be unveiled. The triangle means that an unexpected event will occur." 

Jack shrugged. "Nearly any event is unexpected. Life is unpredictable. It probably means that whatever mystery is unveiled, its unveiling was unexpected, right?" 

"I suppose..." Bill said shakily. Would it be something about _him_ that was revealed, such as his little infatuation with Juliet? Or would _he_ be the one to find out something about someone else? 

"What's mine say?" Jack wanted to know. Bill stared into the cup, trying to identify some up or down to the collection of leaves, turning the cup round and round, not satisfied. Geoff held out his hand. 

"Want me to try?" Bill nodded and handed the cup over to him. "Hmm..." he said, his lips pressed together tightly. "These bits around the sides look like an arrow. That means bad news will come in a letter. The bit in the middle--do you see the way there's this part coming up here, and here, and it looks like you could put your fingers here, if it was a little larger? Looks to me like scissors. That's not good. That means angry words and a family misunderstanding." 

Bill nodded. "Maybe that will be the bad news in the letter," he said. "A family misunderstanding." 

Jack frowned. "Like two people in my family not getting along? How would that be bad news to me? I'm always here at school, for a start. How would it have anything to do with me?" 

Bill shrugged. "I dunno..." 

Trelawney swept over to their table and thoroughly enjoyed their predictions of doom and gloom. It seemed to Bill that her eyes glittered unkindly when she glanced at Geoff, but he didn't know what to make of this. 

It was a relief to leave the stifling tower room and descend to the Great Hall for lunch. Bill wondered whether he should pay any attention to his tea leaves predicting that a mystery would be solved and an unexpected event would occur. He trusted in Peggy's instincts, but he wasn't sure about Geoff. He strongly suspected something funny about the boy, and he wanted to raise the issue with Jack, but he lived with Geoff in the Hufflepuff dorm, so it was easier for Geoff to talk privately with Jack than for Bill to do so. 

However, as they were nearing the entrance hall, Geoff suddenly said, "You two go on. I have to visit the lav. I'll be down." He slipped into a boys' bathroom near the top of the marble stairs descending into the entrance hall, and Bill and Jack shrugged. 

"Okay," Jack said casually to his house-mate. He and Bill started walking down the steps along with the other students all beginning to converge on the route to their lunch. 

But on a broad landing half a flight up from the bottom, Bill pulled Jack aside and said, "I have a question for you. About Geoff." 

Jack looked like he'd been thinking about something else and jerked his head up. "What? Oh, sorry. What did you say?" 

"Geoff. I want to ask you something about him." 

Jack shrugged. "Like what?" 

"Well--have you ever actually seen him do magic? With a wand?" 

Jack frowned. "Of course he's done magic. He's in third year. What are you getting at?" 

"What I'm getting at is--he says himself that he's hopeless in Transfiguration and Charms. Defense Against the Dark Arts, too, although we don't do much spell-casting there, it's mostly writing essays about banshees and all that rot. Have you ever actually seen him cast a successful _spell_? Or fly a broom?" 

Jack frowned more deeply, looking disturbed now. "Come to think of it--I don't think I have. He's good in Potions, though--" 

"You don't need to do magic for that." 

"--and Herbology and History of Magic and Astronomy--" 

"--none of which actually require a person to be _magical._" 

Jack stopped and stared at Bill, his eyes wide. "So you think--" 

"I do. I think that's why his name wasn't on the list of students to be Sorted when we were in first year. I think he's--" 

"Who?" 

Bill and Jack jumped; Geoff was now standing at their elbows. He looked back and forth between them guilelessly, but when he noticed how guilty they both looked, a suspicious expression slowly moved over his face and he looked like he knew they'd been talking about him. 

"Er--Dumbledore," Bill said suddenly, not knowing why. 

"What about Dumbledore?" Geoff said, frowning, looking like he knew Bill was lying. 

"Erm, it's just that--" Bill hesitated. 

"Do you think he's an Animagus, like McGonagall?" Jack asked in a rush. "I heard that his name is an Old English word for 'bumblebee.' He could be a bumblebee Animagus. That'd be great, wouldn't it? He could know whatever was going on in the school by flying around as a bee, watching and listening. It's the perfect thing for a headmaster." 

Geoff laughed. "A bumblebee Animagus? If Dumbledore were an Animagus, I think he'd be something better than _that_. After all, a person'd have to be deaf not to hear the buzzing of a bee half a mile off. Very sneaky, that. _A bumblebee_..." 

Geoff descended the stairs, shaking his head, evidently no longer suspecting them of talking about him behind his back. They laughed feebly along with him and joined him in his descent. 

When they were in the Great Hall, Bill parted with Geoff and Jack as they went to the Hufflepuff table and he went to join the other Gryffindors. There was very little space left, so he seated himself between Remus Lupin and Cecilia Ratkowski, who were each talking to the people on their other sides--Peter Pettigrew and Lily Evans, respectively. James Potter and Sirius Black were sitting across from Bill, with Booth and Leonard not far from them, talking animatedly, evidently, about their Arithmancy class. It was strange to Bill not to be with all of his Gryffindor room mates in his classes this year, but it was even stranger not to see Orville sitting down to eat at the Gryffindor table.... 

But soon he was no longer thinking about Orville. As he ate, he noticed that Sirius Black was looking very, very unkindly at Lily, and that she seemed to be aware of this, although she spoke to Cecilia nonchalantly as though nothing were wrong. James Potter also looked at Lily Evans, but Bill thought his expression was different from Sirius'. James seemed to be--sad. Incredibly sad. _Must still be thinking of his dead girlfriend,_ Bill thought, his mind turning inexorably back to Orville. Would the wounds the living bore ever truly be healed? he wondered, seeing Alex, at the far end of the table, eating slowly and alone. It felt like they'd all been blown apart in more than one way by the explosion in Honeyduke's. The tension among the seventh years, in particular, was palpable. 

Then he noticed Sirius looking somewhere else, and, turning his head, he saw where; he was glaring at Severus Snape, at the Slytherin table. Snape looked back at Black very, very smugly, but also with hatred. Bill turned back to his food and was vaguely aware, out of the corner of his eye, that Sirius was motioning to the doorway of the Great Hall, and soon after, Bill heard footsteps moving in that direction. When he looked up, he saw Snape walking out of the hall, with Black not far behind. Were they going to duel? he wondered. Whatever was going to happen, it didn't look like it would be a particularly _friendly_ meeting... 

Across from him, James Potter looked worried, very worried. Next to him, Remus Lupin exuded exhaustion, as though he couldn't be bothered to worry about anything except eating and sleeping. However, Pettigrew also seemed to be taking notice of Black and Snape leaving the hall, his beady eyes following the two of them, his pointed nose twitching as though he smelled something putrid. 

Bill shrugged and went back to eating, trying to catch Juliet's eye for a moment and succeeding only in catching Wallis'. He sighed inwardly, trying not to wish for Wallis to turn into a toadstool, in case he performed some accidental magic and it actually happened. He'd done that with a garden gnome once who was giving him an especially difficult time, and he'd received a long lecture from his dad about cruelty to non-humans who were capable of human speech. He resumed eating, hoping that some time, in the next four years, Wallis Cassell might actually give him a chance to _speak_ to Juliet Hathaway, but he wasn't completely certain that it wasn't hopeless.... 

* * * * *

"Well, Black? What is it?" Snape spat. They stood in the dungeon corridor, where they'd gone after leaving the Great Hall. Sirius Black looked like he was up to something, and Severus' hand inched toward his wand, ready to pull it out at a moment's notice. Sirius Black had a half-smile that Severus didn't like one bit. He didn't trust the git as far as he could throw him. He almost wished he'd just try to hex him and get it over with so they could stop fooling around and fight properly. 

"You'd like to know what we were up to last night, wouldn't you?" Black said suddenly. Severus' eyes opened wide. Was Black actually going to _tell_ him? 

But he didn't like the sound of what Black had said, as though the _world_ revolved around him, so he answered, "Why should I care what you pillocks get up to together? _I_ have Lily, and the last time I checked--well, _you_ don't." He crossed his arms, looking smugly at Sirius Black, who was clearly seething at the mention of Lily. "And what did she do when _you_ tried to kiss her? Let me see if I remember..." he said, tapping his chin, trying not to laugh at the memory, while Sirius grew redder and redder with rage. Severus finally gave in to his laughter, but then he sobered again and glared at the Gryffindor. 

"You think I would actually do something as _stupid_ as go where you tell me to, in order to find out what you're all up to?" he sneered. "I'm not _Pettigrew_, for godsake. "But mark my words--I _will_ find out what you lot are up to, and you _will_ be punished, or even better--expelled. I daresay you're all leaving the castle grounds to go into Hogsmeade. Whatever secret route you have was probably used by those poor second years to go into the village, too, and now one of them is _dead_ because of you. Are you proud of yourselves? Are you so pleased that you managed to kill a little boy?" 

Suddenly Black had pushed him up against the wall. He was shaking, and Severus could tell he'd hit a nerve. _He feels guilty about the boy,_ he knew then, although he'd been floundering about rather aimlessly, unsure what would set Black off. _I did it,_ he thought proudly. He'd gotten to Sirius Black and perhaps now he would say something incriminating... 

Black's face was very close to his. "Don't you throw that poor boy in my _face_, Snape. He died because of Death Eaters. People like _you_, who were all probably in Slytherin in school. Scheming, ambitious rotters who don't care who they hurt..." 

"--_whom_ they hurt, you stupid--" 

Black banged him against the stone wall again, and Severus tried not to wince when his head struck it painfully. He didn't want to give Black the satisfaction. "Anyway, I thought you just said you don't care what we get up to? Evidently you do. But you're confused about something else: _you're_ the one who doesn't care whom you hurt, using Lily the way you are, for a shag whenever you please...." 

Now it was Severus' turn to get angry. He turned the tables, and in a matter of moments, Sirius Black was the one with his back against the wall and the front of his robes bunched in Snape's hands. Black eyes stared into black eyes, their own black hair flying about each of their faces. They could almost be brothers--if their names were Cain and Abel. "_You don't talk about her._ You can't face the fact that none of you Gryffindors are _man_ enough for her...." 

Black shook him off. "Just because you've clouded her judgment doesn't mean she doesn't know what a _real man_ is." 

Severus sneered at him again. "Yes, a real man sneaks around in the dead of night and doesn't tell someone about it whom he considers to be a close personal friend. _That's_ what a real man does." 

"No!" Black shouted at him, shaking with anger. "A real man does whatever is necessary to be _there_ for a friend in need, even if that means--" 

He stopped himself and looked as though he thought he'd said too much. Severus Snape looked at him shrewdly. Black seemed to be talking about a friend _other_ than Lily now. What was he going on about? What were they really up to? 

Suddenly, Black turned and strode down the corridor, away from Severus, who watched him go, thinking about what he would do that evening. _I need to surprise them,_ he knew. _I need to ambush them._ He had a feeling that Black's original intent had been to ambush _him_, but he was too smart to let that happen. 

He was far too smart to let Sirius Black get the better of him. 

* * * * *

The sound of several hundred people eating dinner echoed through the great hall, a pleasant hum of conversation accompanied by the clinking of goblets and plates, knives and forks. Overhead, the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall glowed with the beautiful colors of the sunset. The autumnal equinox was very close, and the days and nights were very nearly equal, but the days were still very slightly longer. The previous evening, a full moon had risen as the sun set, but Severus Snape knew it wouldn't rise for nearly an hour after sunset this day, and that it would rise about an hour-and-a-half after sunset on the next day. _They will be able to move about in darkness before the moon rises,_ he thought, realizing that this would benefit him, as well, providing him with the cover he would need to catch them at--whatever they were doing. 

He watched them while they ate, clustered together at one end of the Gryffindor table, the four of them thick as thieves. And Potter was one of them, their treasured _Head Boy._ That almost made him seethe more than all of Sirius Black's calculated barbs put together. And he, Severus Snape, hadn't even been considered for _prefect_. He glanced at Igor Karkaroff, who was eating in an annoyingly _dainty_ manner, nibbling at a chicken leg and then putting it down, licking the tips of his fingers with pursed lips before dabbing his mouth with his napkin. A smudge of grease decorated his silver prefect badge. _Gah_. _This is what passes for leadership in Slytherin_. He felt a momentary revulsion for his own house and wondered fleetingly whether school friendships were only formed within houses, and if you were sorted into a particular house, you always became friends with the others in your house. 

But then he looked at Karkaroff again, and knew this wasn't true. He couldn't stand Igor. And then he saw the Weasley boy get up from the Gryffindor table; he was joined a moment later by two boys coming from the Hufflepuff table, and they all left the hall together. Clearly some people did form friendships across house lines. And then there was Lily, _his_ Lily.... 

Almost as though she knew he was thinking of her and looking at her, she turned round and gave him a small, secretive smile, and he remembered being with her the night before. She had been everything he'd imagined and more. So passionate, so beautiful...Was it _his_ fault that she hadn't felt moved to bestow her many graces on a fellow Gryffindor? Sirius Black seemed to think it was. 

Then Snape tried to pretend he hadn't been watching the Gryffindor table when Madam Pomfrey appeared and strode over to Remus Lupin, who stood and followed her out of the Great Hall, looking over his shoulder at his friends. _What's that about?_ Severus wondered. Perhaps he wasn't going to be with the others this evening. Pomfrey hadn't looked happy. Lupin's friends definitely looked very, very alert suddenly, and Severus saw that they were looking up at the ceiling, which was growing darker and darker above the floating candles. The rainbow of colors in the west was growing fainter as a deep blue crept insidiously from the east and the evening star rose, clear and white and thus far alone in the sky. Severus knew it was really Venus, and that thought drew his eyes back to Lily, and then he was remembering the previous evening again... He turned back to his food, feeling a warmth spread over his face. Nothing in his life had ever been as wonderful as waking up with her in his arms.... 

He would do as she asked and find out what those gits were up to if it killed him. 

* * * * *

Bill, Jack and Geoff settled down at a table near the windows in the library, determined to get their History of Magic essays written before they had to return to their common rooms. Bill found it was easier with others around, and they also knew that Binns didn't even know the students' names very well and hadn't noticed, many, many times, when he'd received identical essays from students (or nearly identical ones). Geoff was writing the "master essay" which Bill and Jack would then cannibalize to create theirs. He didn't mind; being the one of the three who was good at this subject made him feel good, Bill could tell. 

While Geoff was chewing his quill and thinking about what to write next, Bill wandered over to the window. There was a sweeping vista down the lawn to the Quidditch pitch, and the wildly flailing Whomping Willow was at the edge of his vision. The setting sun was very low now, sending faint orange light over the shadowy landscape. But suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Bill saw that the branches of the willow had stopped dead. His heart was in his throat; there was only one other time he'd known that to happen. _Lupin_, he thought. _He's going into the tunnel..._

He thought he saw two moving figures near the stilled tree, and he looked over his shoulder at Jack and Geoff. He turned back to the window again, but the figures were gone and the tree branches were whipping the sky again. Bill was glad he'd told Charlie _never_ to go out of the castle on the nights of the full moon. Charlie had shrugged and said _all right_, and had agreed to tell the other first years to do the same, as Bill had asked him. Sometimes Charlie tagged along with Bill and his friends, but mostly he hung about with the other first years in Gryffindor, talking Quidditch and enjoying being at Hogwarts at last. Bill hadn't told him about Lupin, not wanting to burden his brother with this information, and hoping that Charlie would simply take him at his word that he shouldn't leave the castle when the moon was full.... 

* * * * *

Remus Lupin crouched in the tunnel, looking through the tree roots at the glowing night sky, a lump in his throat as he waited for his friends. The moon would rise exactly forty-eight minutes after sunset, he knew. That gave them some time, but not much. He looked up at what he knew were the windows to the Gryffindor common room, far up in the tower, and waited, waited, waited... 

James threw down his book (which he'd only been pretending to read) and said to Sirius, trying not to sound ostentatious about it, "Damn. This doesn't have what I need. I have to go down to the library." 

"I'll come with you," Sirius said, springing up from a chair. 

"I need something from the library, too," Peter said nervously, making Sirius want to smack him. Peter often made Sirius want to smack him. 

Lily looked up from the book she'd actually been reading and said, "That's me as well. I need something from--" 

"_No_," Sirius said abruptly. "You can't come." A moment later, he looked like he wished he hadn't said it, but it was too late now. Lily frowned at him. 

"What? You think you can keep me from going to the library? You don't _own_ it, you know. And for that matter, it's not like you even _spend_ much time in the library, so perhaps you should go with someone who _knows the way_," she added snidely. 

"Lily," James says, trying to sound reasonable, pulling her aside, trying not to yield to the temptation to never let go of her arm. "Don't you think--well--after last night--" he said quietly in her ear, "--that is--this morning--" 

She shivered at the feeling of his warm breath in her ear and pulled back from him. "What are you getting at?" she asked indignantly. 

"Well--don't you think you could be a little more tactful? Don't you see how--how difficult it is for him to be around you knowing that--that you and Snape--" he continued in a half-whisper. Lily looked at Sirius for a moment and narrowed her eyes. 

"I should be tactful for _his_ sake? He wouldn't know tact if it came up and bit him on the--" 

James was standing very close to her, his face very earnest, his dark blue eyes boring into hers. She caught her breath, realizing that James wasn't asking her to be tactful for _Sirius'_ sake. Not really. Her heart turned over as she looked at him, a moment suspended in time. Finally, she let her breath out and she patted his arm gently. 

"I--I'm sorry James. I'm so stupid. I--I'm tired anyway. I think I'll go up to bed." 

He nodded, then did something that surprised her. He leaned forward quickly, brushing her cheek with his lips, saying, "Sleep well, Lily." Then he turned and left the common room with Sirius and Peter, glancing at her over his shoulder briefly. She ran up the stairs to her empty dormitory without noticing anything or anyone else in the world, throwing herself onto her bed and staring up at the canopy. 

_James._

Oh, _James_. She knew that look. She knew that gentle touch on the arm, the brother's kiss on the cheek that so desperately didn't _want_ to be a brother's kiss... 

Why hadn't she seen it? She recalled the letter she'd received from him, asking her to come to his birthday party. It seemed out of the blue, when she'd never visited any of them during the summer holidays before. It was his seventeenth birthday, true, but still... 

She remembered his face that morning, the hurt behind his blazing eyes that she thought was on Remus' behalf, or even Sirius'. But no; it was his own very personal rage that he'd been expressing. She remembered bringing him up to her bed the night Bonnie died, how natural and right it felt to curl up next to him, and the way she'd caught him watching her sleep when she woke the next morning. 

_James._

She had to _think_. How did she feel about James? _No, no, no_. Did it matter whether she felt _anything_? She was with Severus at last, and he was making her happy. But--he was also making her feel alienated from her friends. _That's just because of their petty anti-Slytherin prejudices_. Perhaps they should be spending their time with other Slytherins when they weren't alone, just the two of them. When they wanted to socialize. They couldn't _all_ be bigoted gits who hated Muggle-borns. She had actually laughed with Narcissa Anderssen more than once in Potions class. For a while Lily had worried a bit about Narcissa and Severus; Narcissa was a classic Nordic beauty, very cool and forbidding. Severus, however, had set her straight and informed her that Narcissa was seeing someone a half-dozen years older than her, the young man who'd been Head Boy when they were all first years. 

"Oh, you mean Malfoy?" she'd asked him, remembering the strict, uncompromising eighteen-year-old who had repeatedly taken points from her friends in first year for running in the corridors (among other things). Severus had nodded, and Lily had told him with a laugh that Narcissa should make sure she behaved. Severus informed her with a knowing smirk that the _last_ thing Lucius Malfoy probably wanted was for his girlfriend to behave herself. Lily felt odd, obliquely discussing other people's sex lives, but she'd laughed along with him. 

_James._

She tried to think whether he was trying to tell her, in his way, that he hadn't been able to make a go of his relationship with Bonnie because he wasn't in love with Bonnie Manetti, he was in love with _her_, with _Lily Evans_. But suddenly, her train of thought was interrupted by the dormitory door opening and them slamming shut as Moira and Myra Edmunds entered. They were chattering noisily, and Lily pulled out her wand with a grimace, putting a silencing spell on her bed hangings, so their noise wouldn't penetrate to her inner sanctum. 

_James._

How did she feel about him? _No_. She wasn't supposed to have feelings for him. She wasn't even supposed to think about anyone else. She'd gotten Remus out of her system and now she was with Severus. 

_James James James._

STOP THAT, she ordered her brain, but her mind bashed on relentlessly, finally letting her rest about half-an-hour later, so that when Professor McGonagall entered to tell her that she might want to visit some people in the hospital wing, she hadn't the heart to wake the peacefully sleeping girl and left again without telling any of her room mates why she'd done such an uncharacteristic thing as to enter the girls' dormitory. 

* * * * *

Remus was growing impatient. He checked his watch. The moon would be rising in five minutes. Where the hell were they? It wouldn't be safe to stop the Willow once the moon rose. Were they mad? 

He reached through the roots with his wand and touched the knot which froze the branches, then emerged from the tunnel. _I'll go back as soon as I know they're coming,_ he thought. _It will be all right._

He ran quickly up to the front door of the castle, unaware that he was seen by a tall, dark figure lurking around the corner. 

As they walked down the stairs, Sirius whispered to Peter, "I have a plan. To get Snape off our backs. Are you in?" James pattered down the stairs ahead of them, not listening. Peter looked suspiciously at Sirius. 

"What?" he said quietly. 

"I didn't manage to do it tonight, but tomorrow I'm going to try to lure him out to the Willow. If he wants to find out exactly what we're doing every month...." 

Peter stopped dead, his eyes wide. "But he'll find out about Remus!" 

"Precisely. And it'll be the _last_ thing he ever does...." 

Sirius didn't think it was possible, but Peter's eyes grew even wider. "But that's--that's--" 

Sirius waved his concern away. "Snape's a Slytherin, and probably a Death Eater, like his parents. Why do you think they were killed by Aurors? And Dumbledore can't let it get out unless he wants to admit that he's had a werewolf at the school. Besides, he won't know we had anything to do with it, and he won't be able to _really_ blame Remus. Remus can't help what he does in--that state. It'll look like just what it is--Snape getting too nosy for his own good. No one has to know we have anything to do with it." 

Peter looked nervous. "I don't know, Sirius--" 

Sirius changed tack. "Well, think about what you saw this morning, Peter. He and Lily spent the _night_ together. That's right. He was with her _all night_. His hands were probably all over her. He was _inside_ her Peter--" 

Peter looked up at Sirius, feeling a hatred well up in him that was alien, and yet--_not_ very unfamiliar. Sirius went on and on as they descended the stairs, describing in agonizing, explicit detail with the two had probably done, until he could see that Peter was seething about this as much as he was. They he added the clincher. "And then--when I was talking to him down in the dungeons and suggested that if he wanted to know what we were up to, I'd tell him, _he_ said that he wasn't stupid enough to fall for that, and then he said, '_I'm not Pettigrew._' He did. I am _not_ making this up." That was true, Sirius thought. _Completely and utterly true._

Peter could tell he wasn't lying. Sirius' dark eyes looked into his small brown ones and lit up when Peter, his jaw clenched, said resolutely, "_I'm in._" 

They had reached the entrance hall, and found Remus standing there near the open doors, wild eyed and growing wilder by the minute. "It's about bloody time!" he hissed at them. "Come on!" 

* * * * *

Severus Snape's eyes had opened wide when he saw Remus Lupin emerge from the tunnel under the tree. _So that was it!_ There was a tunnel to Hogsmeade under the Whomping Willow! He _had_ them now! He knew how they were sneaking out....He thought about the witch's statue that he'd thought might conceal a passage, and realized that that was probably just a passage out onto the grounds. _This_ must be the passage that _left_ the grounds and made their nocturnal wanderings in the village possible. And it also had to be the route by which the second years had left; that was why no one had noticed them in the entrance hall with the crowd of other students going to the village. _They weren't in the entrance hall._ They didn't _go_ to Hogsmeade with the other students! _They'd used this tunnel!_

Lupin must have grown tired of waiting for the others, he reckoned, and went to fetch them before the moon rose so they could get out of the castle in complete darkness. He crept down near the tree and hid himself in a clump of bushes just out of reach of the Willow's wildly flailing branches. He managed to conceal himself just in time; here they came, the four of them, Lupin looking quite odd and wild, inordinately _hairy_, with an eerie red light in his eyes. 

The four of them arrived at the Whomping Willow, and Potter looked about for a long stick which he used to press a knot on the roots. The branches froze, and Snape tried to note where Potter was pressing, but it was hard to see. He had a general idea, anyway. . They'd almost waited too long; the moon was starting to rise. Lupin looked _dreadful_, and Severus shook his head. Pomfrey had come to get him, but he was such a git and so devoted to gallivanting around at night with his friends that he seemed to care nothing for the idea that perhaps he was sick and should be in bed in the hospital wing.. He watched the shaking boy crawl into the tunnel under the branches, followed by Pettigrew. Down in the tunnel, Severus heard Lupin cry out; he must have hit his head, or something. The cry continued, and Snape sneered at what a baby he was being. Finally, his disgust for the four of them knowing no bounds, he could no longer resist, and leapt from his hiding place. 

"So! Sneaking off to Hogsmeade in the middle of the night!" He grimaced; that was a stupid thing to say. He _had_ originally assumed they'd be going later, and had rehearsed what he was going to say, forgetting to revise it as appropriate. He dove on. "A gang including no less than our Head Boy! What are you all up to? Planning to do a little breaking and entering? Or a little vandalism?" He looked accusingly at Black and Potter, who had panic in their eyes. However, this was replaced a moment later with a lopsided smile on Sirius Black's face, and Severus' stomach clenched. That was the smile of someone who _knew_ something. It was the most untrustworthy smile he had ever seen. Severus braced himself to jump clear of a hex if he needed to. _Had he walked into a trap_? 

But Black did not pull out his wand. He just kept grinning and said, "No, as a matter of fact--well, you can go see for yourself, Snape. Just come on in and find out..." 

Black stooped down to enter, and, after hesitating for a moment, Severus decided he would do the same. After all, Lupin and Pettigrew were already in there, and Black was going before him. He didn't like that Potter was still behind him, though. James Potter's breathing seemed to be irregular for some reason. Severus took his wand out before he went in, approaching the tree cautiously. If he needed to take on all four of them, he was sure he could do it. After all, Lupin wasn't even particularly well, and Pettigrew couldn't amount to much, so that really only left Potter and Black, and of the two, if he took out Black first, he doubted whether Potter would have the nerve to come after him... 

Peter sat, in his rat form, crouched at the bottom of the tunnel, watching as Remus transformed, wincing at his cries of pain. He could see some movement near the mouth of the tunnel and knew that Sirius had done it, that he'd managed to convince Snape to try looking under the Willow's roots. Peter's small heart beat very, very rapidly in his chest as he braced himself to spring, anticipation in every inch of his furry grey hide and his long, pink hairless tail. He and Sirius had discussed how to do it; he would bite Snape first to draw blood, using his sharp teeth on his hand, for instance, and just in case there was any question of Remus going after him (right after he transformed he was sometimes temporarily a little disoriented), the wound would egg him on; it would be like blood in the water to a shark. _And then they would be rid of Snape and no one would ever know what happened to him!_ They could leave his bloodied clothes in the Forbidden Forest (that was Peter's clever idea--he'd thought of it as he sat waiting), and when they were found, it would be assumed that he wandered in there and met his fate at the hands of one of the fierce creatures that made the forest their home. Peter could almost taste the sweet feeling of revenge they would be able to exact upon Severus Snape for presuming to believe that he deserved their Lily.... 

Severus ducked down, putting his head into the tunnel, then started to move on his hands and knees into it, as he'd seen Lupin and Pettigrew and Black do. His heart started beating wildly as heard a low growl emanating from the depths of the tunnel, as though a wild animal had been wounded. He hesitated for a second. _What was that_? 

James watched him start to go into the tunnel. He had watched and listened to Sirius speak in utter disbelief. _He was trying to kill Snape!_ This couldn't be happening, he told himself. _It couldn't be_.... 

The growling grew louder. 

James' heart was in his throat. Would Remus be expelled if he killed someone while he was a wolf? Would Sirius? All of them? He thought furiously, trying to figure out what to do. And then he remembered Lily's face as Snape had kissed her goodbye in the morning light.... 

Oh, god. _Lily._ She would be heartbroken. She actually seemed to be in love with _Snape_. He pictured them again, near the entrance to the Gryffindor common room that morning, before they knew anyone was watching them. The way they'd looked at each other was completely unguarded, and the way they'd kissed....And what if--god forbid--Lily had conceived? What if she had to raise a child by herself because-- 

Severus Snape suddenly felt something around his foot. 

He shook it at first, thinking he'd caught it on a root, but then it tightened and he realized that it was a hand, dragging him away from the tunnel. It was Potter, he realized, grunting with the effort of pulling him backwards. He was surprisingly strong. And then Severus felt a wrenching and heard a loud _snap_, and pain shot up his leg. Severus fell and banged his chin on a tree root as he was extracted from the tunnel. Then Potter hit a knot on the roots with his wand, making the branches flail about again. Unfortunately, they hadn't gotten clear yet, so Severus Snape and James Potter were each struck by the Whomping Willow numerous times. Severus had a gash on his forehead and a bloody nose; Potter had a lump on his temple. The terrible growling was very loud now, and Severus turned to look back at the tree. What appeared to be an enormous wolf was straining to get out of the tunnel, trapped by the branches across the entrance and the other limbs doing their frantic, macabre dance. The wolf was red-eyed and salivating, and as he looked at him, Snape knew the answer to everything. _Everything!_

_Remus Lupin was a werewolf._

The wolf seemed to be trapped in the tunnel, and Severus realized that that must be why the Willow was planted to begin with--to provide Lupin with a place to spend the full moon. That meant that _Dumbledore knew!_ He'd even _arranged_ for Lupin to be at the school. Severus just _knew_ it!. 

However, he couldn't continue this train of thought any longer; the pain coming from his ankle was too great, and somehow seemed to feel all the worse for the additional pain of betrayal he felt, the betrayal of his own headmaster, the man who was supposed to be _protecting_ all of the students at the school, not showing special favor to his _pets_, the _Gryffindors_. He was doubled up on the ground and blood was running into his left eye, which he squeezed shut. He glared at Potter--the damn _Head Boy_, no less--with his good right eye. "Damn, you Potter," he growled. "You broke my ankle!" 

Potter was lying flat on the ground, trying to get out of range of the tree's reach before standing. "Broke your ankle? Saved your life, more like!" 

The two of them glared at each other. The growling continued. 

"What about them?" Severus suddenly said to Potter, still feeling snappish. Potter looked nervous, as though he was afraid of giving too much away. 

"They'll be fine. They're used to it." 

"Used to being bitten by a werewolf?" 

"No, you git!" Potter stood now, holding his arms out. "Look at me; the moon is up and I'm not a werewolf, am I?" 

Severus looked suspiciously back at the growling, snarling animal still trying to get out of the tunnel. "But how--" 

"Can't you just be glad to be alive? Listen; we both need to go to the hospital wing, and you probably can't walk without my help. Here," he said, extending a hand. Severus looked up at him, feeling a raw hatred that warred with the knowledge that he owed his life to Potter. 

Finally, reluctantly, he took the hand Potter was offering and grunted as he stood. James Potter pulled Severus Snape's arm across his shoulders and put his arm around the Slytherin's waist. Severus had to hop on his right foot, holding his left knee bent to avoid putting weight on the broken ankle. 

It seemed to take forever to reach the castle, and then to hop up the marble stairs leading to the infirmary. When they burst through the door, Madam Pomfrey was shocked to see them, bloodied and broken as they were. 

"And what mischief have the pair of you been up to, then?" she said tartly, helping Snape to a bed. 

James grimaced, not sure where to start. However, before he could manufacture a satisfactory story, Snape had burst out, "Potter and Sirius Black tried to set Lupin on me! He's a werewolf! Potter finally pulled me from the tunnel under the Whomping Willow, but the tree managed to get a few blows in...Potter broke my ankle, too..." 

Madam Pomfrey blanched. She turned abruptly to James, noting the blows he'd taken from the Willow. _No more than he deserves, if he did what Severus Snape said he did._

"You!" she barked at him. "Can you walk all right?" James nodded vigorously. "Then go to fetch the Headmaster! I can treat you when you get back. And enjoy knowing the password to his office while you can," she added a bit snidely, "as you may not be Head Boy for much longer!" 

James swallowed, then, and bolted from the room. _I'm going to be expelled,_ he thought as he raced up the stairs, his head aching from being hit by the Willow. _And Sirius and Peter and Remus, too. We're all going to be outcasts in the wizarding world...._

He reached the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office and gave the password. His mind was in a fog as he went up the rising spiral stairs, and when he knocked on the door, his hand was shaking. _Time to face the music,_ he thought as he waited. He put his hand on the knob and turned it the moment he heard the voice say, "Come." As he pushed the door open, he saw the look of surprise on the headmaster's face, and then the look of sadness that replaced it as James told him why he'd come. 

When he was done speaking, Albus Dumbledore looked at him with an expression of the deepest disappointment. James wanted to sink into a hole and die. He waited and waited for the headmaster to say something, but the blue eyes looked harder than he'd ever seen them, and the lined face was stern and uncompromising. Finally he said slowly, "You should go back to the hospital wing and let Madam Pomfrey treat your wounds. I believe I shall deal with you and with your friends in the morning, when you can all be present." 

His voice was terrible, low and steady, and James felt that he could no longer swallow, listening to it. He didn't scream at him and he didn't say how disappointed he was in the Head Boy, but James could see it in his eyes. _Oh, how awful his eyes looked_.... 

James left and returned to the hospital wing, feeling for the first time since it had happened that he was glad his parents hadn't lived to see him in such disgrace as he surely would be. The _Prophet_ would probably pick up on it. _HOGWARTS HEAD BOY EXPELLED._ It didn't happen every day. Perhaps it had never happened. There had probably never been a Head Boy as dreadful as James Potter. _Hell_, he thought, _a Slytherin like Igor Karkaroff probably wouldn't even have gotten into as much trouble as I'm in._

He returned to the hospital wing, where Snape was sleeping, having been given a draught by Pomfrey. She dressed James' wounds brusquely, and he winced occasionally; she was making no effort to be gentle. With a disapproving sniff, she also gave him a sleeping draught. It was the only truly nice thing she did for him, in that it let him sleep dreamlessly until morning, without even a nagging conscience to bother him.. 

* * * * *

_Wednesday, 20 September, 1977_

Lily stretched and yawned, sat up groggily. She pushed the curtains aside to greet the day and very nearly screamed in surprise when she saw her head of house sitting in a chair by her bedside. The sun was shining and it looked like it would be a lovely nearly-autumn day, but Professor McGonagall did _not_ look very cheerful in spite of this, and Lily had never known her to come into the dorms. Something dreadful must have happened.... 

"What is it?" she said apprehensively. 

McGonagall's lips became even thinner than they had been. "I understand that you and Mr. Snape have been--seeing each other?" 

Lily felt a warmth rise from her neck. "He's--he's my boyfriend," she said softly, more than a little embarrassed to be talking about this with her Transfiguration professor. 

"Well," she said, not looking like she altogether approved of the pairing, "you might be interested to know that he is in the hospital wing. And so is James Potter," she added. Lily frowned. 

"Were they fighting?" she asked, remembering James with his wand drawn only about twenty-four hours earlier. 

McGonagall looked surprised at that. "Not exactly. Why don't you get dressed and come to the hospital wing?" she said gently. "Mr. Snape was asking for you last night, but when I came to get you--you didn't respond to my calling to you. When I checked to make certain you were all right, you were sleeping so peacefully, I didn't want to disturb you--" 

"Oh!" Lily said in distress. "I wish you had!" Then she remembered the spell she'd put on her bedhangings, and realized that she wouldn't have heard a word. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, feeling like biting her tongue; it sounded like she was criticizing. 

McGonagall didn't seem to mind. "Just get dressed and go to the infirmary. I'm glad to know," she added, with a raised eyebrow, "that at least the Head Girl isn't out at all hours..." 

Lily looked down and away from McGonagall, thinking of how she had spent the previous night with Severus. Did McGonagall suspect something? She couldn't tell. 

"Yes, Professor. I'll be right there." 

McGonagall nodded and left. Lily dressed quickly. Cecilia and the Edmunds twins seemed to be sleeping still. Lily couldn't tell whether they had heard anything McGonagall had said or not. She didn't have time to worry about that, however, as she hurriedly pulled on her clothes and robes. 

As she dashed out of the portrait hole, she thought she heard a strange noise in the corridor, and a scream froze in her throat when she saw the grey rat scuffling along the stone wall. She kept an eye on it for a moment before bolting toward the hospital wing. 

Mere moments after she was out of sight, the rat became a small teenage boy again, his small eyes darting around cautiously. "Come on!" he said to Remus and Sirius, who were hiding in an alcove behind a statue of a vampire; Peter was their vanguard, as he could creep along and go places without being noticed, for the most part. They were all within sight of the portrait hole now. _Home sweet home,_ Remus thought wearily. He leaned heavily on Sirius. He was very angry with him for what he'd done the evening before, but he was too exhausted now to ream him out. That would have to wait. 

However, before any of them could utter the password to the Fat Lady, the portrait starting swinging open. Peter immediately changed into a rat again, skittering behind what looked like an elongated baptismal font, which functioned as a torch. Sirius and Remus stood face to face with Professor McGonagall, who was no less surprised to see them. Her lips went very, very thin and her eyes blazed. Then she saw the condition Remus was in, the dark circles under his eyes, and her expression softened a little bit. She nodded at Sirius. 

"You should take him to the hospital wing, don't you think, Mr. Black?" she said, looking over those square-rimmed spectacles at him. "And--I believe the headmaster wishes to have a word with you. _More_ than a few words." 

Bill heard this ominous statement just before he plowed into Professor McGonagall from behind. He was meeting Geoff and Jack in the Great Hall early, to go over their essays before breakfast. He saw how awful Remus Lupin looked, and instinctively said, "Crikey! You all right, Lupin? Oh, excuse me, Professor," he added hurriedly to Professor McGonagall. _She didn't usually come in here,_ he thought. She pursed her lips at him. 

"Crikey yourself, Mr. Weasley. Mr. Lupin is going to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey will attend to him." 

She looked with deep disapproval at Sirius and Remus, turning to close the portrait, but just before she did, a rat leapt into the breach and disappeared into the Gryffindor common room. Bill jumped a few inches. 

"Oy, Professor! A rat just got into Gryffindor Tower!" 

She made a noise like "hmmph!" and then said, "There are more rats in this castle than you know, Mr. Weasley. If you are concerned, just set one of the cats on it and the problem will be solved." 

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin looked at each other with wide eyes. Bill frowned at them. "What's wrong with you? Are you part of some rodent protection society or something?" 

Sirius swallowed and Remus looked even whiter than he had before. McGonagall clapped her hands at them. "Off with the pair of you, now! Hospital wing! Shoo!" she added. They turned to hobble off, but Bill ran past them, clutching his parchment. Now that he knew Remus Lupin was a werewolf, it didn't seem all that important. Still, he didn't fancy telling Geoff and Jack about it; he liked being the only one who knew. 

Lily had finally reached the hospital wing, which was every bit as sun-filled as Gryffindor Tower; she almost started to feel that the sun was mocking her this morning, making the world look so relentlessly cheerful that she wanted to scream in frustration. In a trice, she saw that Severus and James were the only two patients, and James was still asleep. Severus was fingering the bandage on his forehead and glaring at the boy in the bed next to his when she entered. Her heart leapt into her throat when she saw the condition he was in, and she ran to his bedside. 

"Oh! This morning, McGonagall said--Oh, Severus, are you all right?" She took his hand, looking at his bandaged face, then down at his ankle, still sporting another bandage to protect the boneset salve that would soon mend it. 

He nodded at her, looking like he had a lump in his throat. 

"What was it? You said--you said you would find out for me what they'd been doing. Did you?" 

He nodded again, then said quietly, "They've been covering up for Lupin. He's a werewolf." 

She felt her heart drop into her stomach. _A werewolf!_ But--but she'd thought Dumbledore would never-- 

And then she remembered being with him, the first time they slept together, the way he _sniffed_ her, and how strong he was-- 

In truth, she wasn't shocked, but she tried to look surprised so that Severus wouldn't suspect that she'd actually considered this possibility and abandoned it as far too unlikely... 

"A werewolf?" she said, almost inaudibly. "But how? Wouldn't they be in danger themselves?" That was one of the reasons she'd abandoned the idea; James, Sirius and Peter were obviously _with_ Remus on the nights of the full moon. How could they do that, and not get hurt, if he was a werewolf? _They_ didn't show any signs of also being werewolves. They weren't especially strong, nor did they have remarkable senses of smell and hearing. She remembered now all of the things she'd known Remus to do which no ordinary wizard could do--nor ordinary human-- 

_I should have realized. But I didn't want to._

"I don't know how they avoid him attacking them," Severus said bitterly. "But Black was going to let it--him--kill me, until Potter..." 

She turned to look toward James' bed, her eyes narrowed. "Yes?" 

Severus grimaced, she saw out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to be unwilling to give James any credit for doing anything right. He swallowed. "Until Potter pulled me out of the way." 

She turned to look at James again, who was awake now, looking back at her. He seemed very calm. 

"Hello, Lily," he said simply. She felt like she was seeing him for the first time. _James saved him. But--I thought James might be in love with me...this doesn't make any sense...he could have gotten Severus out of the way..._

"You--you--" she struggled. "You saved Severus' life." 

He looked embarrassed. "Yes, well--if he had died, it would have made you sad," he said softly. He looked into her eyes earnestly, a pleading expression that was unmistakably full of love. Lily caught her breath, recognizing it, and looking frightened of it at the same time. _Oh,_ she thought. _That's why he saved Severus._ His expression of love was replaced by one of misery, as he closed his eyes, turning over on his side, away from them. 

She looked nervously at Severus, who, she felt sure, had seen the look they'd exchanged. He looked markedly disturbed by it; there was a hunted, threatened expression about his eyes. Lily stood next to his bed and bent down and kissed him on the cheek. 

"Get some rest. I'll be back later," she whispered, unable to speak more loudly. He nodded at her silently. She turned again to James' bed, an odd sensation in her stomach. _James._ James hadn't wanted to put her through what he'd gone through when his parents had died.... She put her hand on his shoulder, trying not to jump at the spark that jumped from his body to hers. "I'll bring you your notes and homework assignments, all right James?" She was having trouble drawing breath, and her stomach felt light and floaty. 

He turned over, giving her _that_ look again. "Thank you, Lily." 

She shivered under his gaze for a second, and then she moved toward the door, trying not to run, glancing over her shoulder just before she left. 

But she felt her gaze drawn to James Potter, not Severus Snape. 

Once she was in the corridor again, she leaned heavily against the door, feeling like her heart was torn in two different directions. On the one hand, Severus had risked his life to find out what she asked him to find out. (She never would have asked him if she had known it would be so dangerous.) On the other hand, James had saved someone he hated, because _she_ cared about him. She didn't know what to do. 

_I'm with Severus,_ she reminded herself. _I'm with Severus._

So why did she see James Potter's face in her mind's eye, lying in his hospital bed, gazing at her adoringly? 

* * * * *

The door to the hospital wing swung open noisily, striking the wall. Sirius stood there, supporting Remus. He helped Remus to a bed while Snape glared at them. James sat up straight and didn't wait for Remus to get settled before crying out, "What were you playing at, Sirius? Thanks to you, we're all probably going to get expelled!" 

Snape smirked. "Speak for yourself, Potter." 

James glared at him. "I _am_, you sodding git. If it weren't for you sneaking around and sticking your big nose where it doesn't belong, I wouldn't have needed to save your sorry arse!" 

James heard Sirius start to laugh, and James turned his attention to his best friend now. "You!" he roared. "I can't believe you did--what you did!" he said, unwilling to put it into words. "Would that really have been worth it? Making Remus a murderer and becoming as good as--or I should say, as bad as--a murderer yourself? At the age of sixteen? You're about to turn seventeen, finally, and is that how you want to spend your birthday? In Azkaban? I know you can't stand him, none of us can, but--" 

It was Sirius' turn to lose his temper. "Oh, is that why you saved him? Because you can't stand him? I can't believe you did that! Now he'll tell everyone about Remus, and then--" 

"No, he won't, Mr. Black," said a solemn voice near the door. When Sirius and Remus had entered, they'd left the door to the infirmary open, and none of them had heard the headmaster approach. They were all silent now. Dumbledore's voice was as terrible as it had been the previous night in his office, and James tried to look properly deferential now, even though there was probably nothing he could do to prevent his expulsion now. 

Dumbledore nodded at Severus Snape and gave him a very meaningful look. "Mr. Snape is not going to say a word about this to anyone, if he knows _what is good for him,_" Dumbledore said, with one eyebrow raised. Snape's jaw dropped. 

"But--but--" 

Dumbledore nodded at him again and raised his hand to forestall further protests. "I know, I know. But despite the fact that you could have lost your life--" he glared at Sirius very hard; "that would punish _Remus_, who had no control over what transpired between you and Mr. Black. Everything that I have heard seems to indicate that this was all Mr. Black's idea." 

Sirius felt a cold weight in his stomach, like a glacier, and as he looked back into the eyes of the formidable old man, he knew that his days at Hogwarts were numbered. 

"And _you_," Dumbledore said suddenly to James, looking even sterner now. "While it is good to hear that you can chastise someone regardless of whether he is your best friend, it's a bit late now, isn't it? Where was that Head Boy leadership quality when you had the chance to prevent your best friend from doing something horribly _stupid_ to begin with, eh?" Dumbledore's voice was louder, and James had never heard it with quite the edge it had now. "As a prefect and then Head Boy, you were and are one of the students in this school I rely upon to be my eyes and ears when I cannot be present!" The crescendo in his voice continued, until James wondered whether the windows would shatter. "I am very, very disappointed in you," he finished, surprisingly quietly, and James wanted to weep for making that expression appear on the old man's face. He'd felt horrid the night before; now he felt a hundred times worse, and it was only through a super-human effort that he did not break down crying and throw himself on the headmaster's mercy. 

Albus Dumbledore looked back and forth between the four boys, who all regarded him with trepidation. Finally, he passed sentence. 

"Severus; you shall not tell a soul about Remus if you wish to remain at this school," he said without emotion. Snape's jaw dropped, but he clamped it shut again, his indignance showing in his eyes. "And," he continued, "I will not tolerate being told that this is grossly unfair. So is being bitten by a werewolf when you are a small child," he said testily. "You are to be grateful that James saved your life and that is that. 

"Remus; you shall not blame yourself for what almost occurred," he said surprisingly kindly. "I know that the last thing you would want to have happen is for anyone to experience what you have." 

Now his eyes glittered again as he regarded James and Sirius. 

"As for the pair of you. One hundred points shall be taken from Gryffindor for what you did, Sirius," he said crisply, while Sirius looked very guilty and bowed his head. "However," he added, "fifty points shall be _awarded_ to Gryffindor for what _you_ did, James." James felt like heaving a noisy sigh of relief, but he did not yet. There had to be something else. "But--the fact remains that only _one_ of you had any business being out on the grounds last night. Two of you know how very dangerous that was, and now you also know, Severus. For being out of the castle after dark, I am taking fifty points from Slytherin and one-hundred more points from Gryffindor." Snape frowned. Dumbledore turned to James and Sirius again. 

"And you two--you still don't understand the full ramifications of what would have occurred had Severus had contact with Remus last night, do you? The best outcome, I suppose, would have been Severus surviving an attack by Remus and becoming a werewolf himself. You know how dreadful the monthly change is for one of your best friends. Would you wish that horror upon even your worst enemy? I suppose we know the answer to that now: _Yes_. However, would you wish on one of your best friends the knowledge that he had done that to another human being? Hadn't thought about that, had you, Sirius? How did you think Remus would feel about all this? Did that cross your mind _once_?" he said quite loudly now, his voice echoing around the chamber, as the boys listened to him, transfixed and stilled by fear. 

"And Remus!" he continued, louder, but seeming to expend no additional effort in creating the increased volume. He was still addressing Sirius, despite having said Remus' name. "Do you know what would have happened to him had you succeeded in getting Severus killed by him in his wolf form?" Sirius swallowed and shook his head. "He would have been removed from the school by the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, that's what. He might had received a hearing, of a sort. The sort that is really a perfunctory prelude to the executioner using the whetstone on his special _silver-tipped werewolf-killing axe_. Do you think that Remus is considered to be a human being in the wizarding world, Sirius? Because he is not. While we normally do not use the death penalty, we _do_ sometimes let convicted criminals receive the dementor's kiss, which is arguably worse. Since that is not an option for a werewolf, he would simply have been destroyed. _Destroyed._ Do you understand? You were not just stupidly risking Severus' life, but the life of one of your best friends." His voice had become very soft, but the intensity and vituperation in it had, if possible, increased. 

He had fire in his eyes as he glanced back and forth between James and Sirius. "Now--while I appreciate your desire to be with your friend when he experiences the horrible change brought by the full moon, and I can admire the ingenuity that evidently led you to learn magicks that would allow you to do this without being at risk yourselves, I cannot allow this to be just a matter of deducted house points, or even detentions. You are both suspended from school, effective immediately. You will spend the next fortnight at Ascog Castle. I have contacted your parents, Sirius," he said, nodding at him, "and they should be arriving in a little while to collect the pair of you. Any assignments or examinations for your classes will _not_ be made up when you return. You will simply receive zeros for your marks during your absence. You will, however, be expected to be up-to-date in your studies, so do pack your texts and remember--" he said to Sirius, an ominous note in his voice, "that you cannot do magic away from school until your seventeenth birthday, Sirius. That is only two days from now, but still--if you step one toe out of line, you will be _very_ sorry indeed." 

There was no compromise in that voice, no arguing. James' heart felt like it was racing; he had no question in his mind as to why Dumbledore had been able to defeat Grindelwald, or why he had heard that the only other wizard Voldemort feared was their headmaster. His countenance was terrible to behold, like an avenging angel, and James felt himself lucky to still be Head Boy, and not expelled. He was glad that Peter wasn't there and that Dumbledore didn't seem to know he went with them on the nights of the full moon; he'd probably add on punishments for their corrupting Peter, if he knew. 

He saw that Sirius was visibly shaking as he nodded deferentially to Dumbledore, who waved them to the door with a vague flick of his hand, saying in an oddly nonchalant voice now, "So run along and pack. You will be ready and in the entrance hall in thirty minutes. Understood?" 

"Yes, sir," they said in unison. They couldn't leave the infirmary quickly enough. As he left, James looked over his shoulder at Remus, mouthing the word _sorry_ at him. Remus gave him a small nod, as if to say, _It's not you who needs to apologize._

James watched Sirius' profile as they climbed the stairs to Gryffindor Tower; he looked like he'd gone into mourning, and James decided that he'd said enough for the moment, especially considering the way Dumbledore had laid into him. He still had a few things to say to his best friend and almost-brother, but it could wait. They had a whole fortnight to talk. 

When they reached their dormitory, they discovered Peter, just finishing dressing. He stopped and quaked when he saw them. 

"I'm--I'm sorry I ran when McGonagall came out of the portrait hole," he said hurriedly to Sirius. "I--I panicked--" 

Sirius waved him away. "S'all right, Wormtail. I think she just would have been angrier if she thought we were all in on it." He sat on his trunk and sighed. "We have to pack. We're suspended for a fortnight. My parents are coming to get us soon." 

"_Suspended!_" Peter said in awe. None of them had ever known a student to be suspended. They knew it was possible, but in practice it was rarely done. 

"Right. So we need you to owl us our assignments, as we're supposed to stay up-to-date," James said. He smiled ruefully and put his hand on Peter's thin shoulder. "No harm, Pete. If Dumbledore knew about you, he'd just be able to take more house points, anyway. We'd have lost another fifty." 

Peter swallowed and tried to help, getting robes from Sirius' wardrobe to put into his trunk. "_Another_ fifty? How many did he take?" 

"One hundred-fifty for me," Sirius said miserably. "One hundred for trying to get Snape killed and fifty more just for being out after dark. James had fifty deducted for being out after dark, too, but he was awarded fifty points for saving Snape, so it cancels out." 

Peter thought for a minute. "So we lost one-fifty . Could have been worse." 

Sirius grinned. "And Snape lost fifty too, also for being out after dark." 

James glared at him. "Do you think this is funny, Sirius? Any of it?" 

Sirius grimaced. "What, I'm not allowed to see the bright side to the situation?" 

"The bright side is that we weren't expelled," James informed him authoritatively. "Be grateful you won't end up like _Filch._" 

Sirius shuddered at the thought. "Right." 

They finished packing and said goodbye to Peter. James couldn't help glaring at Sirius the entire time they were taking their trunks down the stairs. This, he thought, was going to be a very long fortnight. 

* * * * *

_Friday, 9 December, 1977_

"How long is yours?" asked Claudine Gaillard. 

Lily took out a ruler and measured her parchment. "Twenty-seven and a half. I'm getting close." 

"What did you say about the poison antidotes?" Narcissa Anderssen asked next. 

Lily shrugged. "That wasn't difficult. Look under 'Mandragora' in the Herbology text; there are loads of references to antidotes that use it, something like two dozen. We only need to mention five. Here are the ones I used, so you can all select different ones, to make it less conspicuous...." 

Diana O'Sullivan nodded and flipped open her Herbology text. Lily leant over her parchment, working contentedly on her Potions essay. In the time since she and Severus had learned of Remus' lycanthropy, she had spent very little time in Gryffindor Tower. She felt utterly betrayed by her friends, alienated from Remus for never having told her the real reason he "needed" her on the nights before the full moon, distant from her roommates, who wouldn't talk to her after they found out she was actually seeing Severus. And James. When she was around James, she felt--she felt like she wanted to be around him far too much for someone who already had a boyfriend, and the only response she'd been able to formulate was to flee, to very specifically avoid being around him as much as possible. 

She'd found, oddly enough, that it had been relatively easy, in Potions class, to strike up a friendship with some of the girls from Slytherin. She had a feeling that they would agree to spend time with her if she basically let them copy her work, and she was right. Part of her protested against this, her rigid stand against copying during the entire previous six years of school thrown out the window, but part of her said, _We're in seventh year now. What does it matter? They still have to take the N.E.W.T.s on their own._

And some of them were even curious about what life had been like for her in the Muggle world, before she found out she was a witch. Only Narcissa Anderssen evinced any real anti-Muggle tendencies, and each time she said something tactlessly bigoted, she immediately followed it up with, "Oh, but I know _you're_ all right, Lily," as though that had lessened the offensiveness, somehow. Lily bit her tongue at these times and forced herself to smile at the immaculate blonde girl. Tact was definitely not her strong suit. 

But lately, she'd found that she needed to do more than just share her notes and homework. Narcissa had very pruriently started asking questions about her relationship with Severus, wanting to know how far they'd gone. 

"I mean--you're not one of those sweet little virgins, are you? At seventeen?" Sophia Porter sneered. Lily knew that no one would confuse Sophia for a "sweet little virgin." 

Narcissa rolled her eyes. "Typical _Gryffindor_..." 

Lily bristled. "Actually, I haven't been since fifth year, for your information. You don't know what people get up to in the Gryffindor common room late at night..." 

A moment later, she wanted to bite her tongue. _I shouldn't have said that._

Narcissa had a lascivious lop-sided smile on her face. "Oooh. Details, details. What do the randy Gryffindors get up to? Like--_Sirius Black_?" 

Lily laughed. "Not him, silly. Not with me, anyway. Don't you remember what I did when he made a pass at me?" 

Diana sniffed. "Why ever do you think everyone thought you were a virgin? Didn't even want to be _kissed._ By _Sirius Black._ I mean--_really._" 

Lily swallowed. "Well, I don't want to talk about--about that other boy because--we were never officially going out and it ended rather badly..." 

Claudine sat up straight, her eyes shining. "Ooh--just clandestine shagging. How _dirty._ But you _can_ tell us about Severus Snape. What's he like?" 

Lily frowned. "What do you mean?" 

Narcissa sighed and seemed to be restraining herself from saying _typical Gryffindor_ again. "What do you think she means? In _bed._" 

Lily felt herself blush. "Oh..." Then she shook herself, annoyed. _Oh, bother. They think I'm an innocent little shrinking violet and they'll just laugh in my face if I refuse to say anything._ So she cleared her throat and began to talk about some rather small things, the other girls hanging on her every word, and soon Lily found more and more details spilling out of her, until she noticed that Narcissa was looking behind her with very wide eyes. 

Lily turned, seeing Severus standing directly behind her. Judging from the stormy look on his face, he'd been standing there for quite some time and had heard what she'd been saying to the Slytherin girls. Sophia batted her lashes at him and Claudine's eyes were moving shamelessly over his black-robed form as though trying to picture the fine physique Lily had described. As the moments passed, she felt her cheeks grow redder and redder, until finally, his face angrier than she'd ever seen it, he stormed out of the library, his long strides moving him along quickly. 

She knew that if she went bolting after him, the other girls would laugh themselves silly, so she forced herself to stay where she was, and managed to change the subject. It was the hardest thing she'd ever done. After dinner in the Great Hall, she managed to waylay him as he was leaving, seeing again the furious expression on his face. 

"Oh, um, Severus. I--I wondered whether you--whether you--" she couldn't quite finish. She'd never actually proposed their going off together before. He always left her little notes about time and place in her Potions text when they worked together; she'd never initiated a meeting and suddenly felt at a loss for how to do this. She felt irritated with herself. _Don't be stupid. Just do it._

"How are you?" she said stupidly, wanting to kick herself. He looked coldly at her, and she felt as though she'd swallowed an icicle. 

"Feeling ready to retire for the evening. I'll see you tomorrow, Lily," he said stiffly and formally before going down the stairs to the dungeon. Lily hurried after him, looking over her shoulder to see whether anyone had noticed. 

"Do you mean, then, that we're meeting--_downstairs_?" she whispered, meaning the room where they'd first gone to be alone together, where Severus had worked a miracle on the debris and cobwebs. He glared at her, and now she saw the hurt in his eyes. 

"No. I mean that I am retiring. To my dormitory. Good night," he said pointedly, walking away from her. She watched his retreating back, her stomach clenching. She felt like a failure. 

There was no way to deny that things had changed since they had both learned that Remus was a werewolf. She had been on the verge of confessing to him many times that Remus was the other boy she'd slept with, but she couldn't bear to tell him that. He'd looked like he'd started to suspect the true identity of her first lover, and was waiting for her to come clean. The longer she put it off, the harder it was, but she still had not managed it. 

And then, when James and Sirius had returned after their suspension, she'd been so glad to see James! Something had leapt up in her heart when she saw him walk in those doors, and she'd run forward and hugged him, turning in shock to see a very angry Severus Snape standing at the top of the dungeon stairs, glaring at the two of them. She'd stepped back from James, flustered and trying to get her stomach to stop doing flip-flops. Severus had looked pointedly away from them and strode into the Great Hall as though they didn't exist. 

And now she had stupidly said far too much to the idiot Slytherin girls....Severus would never forgive her.... 

* * * * *

_Thursday, 22 December, 1977_

Severus Snape paced the cold stone of the observation deck atop the Astronomy Tower, waiting for Lily. It had to be done. There was no doubt about it. There was absolutely no way he could tolerate the situation any longer.... 

When Black and Potter had returned from their suspension, there was The Hug. That had been bad enough, seeing that innocent look of pleasure in her eyes upon seeing Potter again. But then he had overheard a conversation between Black and Lupin that had turned his blood cold. He'd been in the Quidditch changing rooms after a practice, and Black and Lupin had come in to look for one of Black's knee pads, which he'd accidentally dropped. Black was idly swinging his Beater's bat while he walked, glancing around for the errant pad. 

"I don't see how you can stand seeing them together," Black was saying to Lupin. Severus ducked behind an open locker door. He had a feeling they were talking about him and Lily. 

"I told you, Sirius, it's over between me and Lily. Although technically, it never got started...." 

Snape felt bile rise in his throat. _Was Lupin the other boy Lily spoke of, when she'd confessed that she wasn't a virgin?_

"But you were in love with her!" 

"Sirius--" 

"Don't lie about it, Remus. I could tell. And she was in love with you, too. If you didn't tell her you were--what you are--what happened?" 

"That's what happened. I didn't tell her, so she kept pushing and pushing, wanting to know. But I--I hurt her, Sirius. _Physically._ Our first time together--I _bit_ her, for pete's sake. And bruised her, badly. And I'm the one who broke her leg. Do you think I wanted to go on hurting her?" 

Sirius Black heaved a sigh, apparently forgetting that he was supposed to be looking for his kneepad. "Did you ever _tell_ her you loved her?" 

Lupin said, "No," very softly. "She--she told me. Finally. On the train to school in September. But--but I told her I only thought of her as a friend." 

_On the train!_ Severus thought, feeling as though his heart had stopped. _Lily told me she loved me on the train--after Lupin rejected her!_

"You lied, in other words." 

"Of course I lied! I'm not fit to be with anyone, Sirius, and you won't convince me otherwise. Yes, I loved Lily, and I still do, but that's beside the point. I'm no good for her. She's with Snape now. I suppose that's a sort of poetic justice, since I nearly killed him--" 

"No thanks to me--" Sirius Black added quietly. "I'm sorry, Remus. I never wanted to put you at risk." 

_No,_ Severus thought. _You just wanted to see me cut to ribbons._

"I know, Sirius. Sometimes you just don't--_think._" Severus heard an edge to the werewolf's voice. 

"Oh!" Black said suddenly, giving no indication of having heard Lupin's last comment. "Here it is. Let's go to dinner now." He evidently wasn't going to acknowledge what Lupin had said. 

Severus Snape listened to them go, sinking down onto a bench, feeling his heart breaking. _Lily had been in love with Remus Lupin, had slept with him, probably while she was flirting and snogging with me, and only told me she loved me after he rejected her...._

The wind was bitterly cold on top of the Astronomy Tower. It suited his mood. Severus turned up the collar of his cloak and squinted into the cold gusts, pacing the cold stones some more, looking out onto the frost-touched grounds. The world looked dead and lifeless. There was old brown bracken by the lake, a multitude of leafless skeletons of trees thrusting up toward the sky in the Forbidden Forest, and even the fir trees looked sad and limp, some of them browning, as though they were dying of a disease, or root-rot. The lake was a still grey mirror, reflecting the flat white sky, which smelled of snow. 

It was only days until Christmas, but Severus Snape hadn't looked forward to the holiday since his parents had died. His uncle didn't make any effort to decorate their austere flat above the apothecary, and they exchanged perfunctory gifts, things like gloves and jumpers and potions books. They had no Christmas goose, no Christmas crackers or flaming pudding, just a prosaic joint of roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, some over-boiled vegetables (Scottish style) and shortbread afterward with some brandy (which Severus was only allowed to have in small quantities). 

The only slightly uplifting thing they did was attend the Christmas Eve service at the stoic, grey-stoned wizarding kirk, where Muggle-repelling charms convinced wayward would-be Christmas church-goers who were not magical to try the other Presbyterian church down the street. Severus enjoyed listening to the children's choir warbling their carols, although he would never admit this to anyone. Back in Oxford, before his parents died, he had, for a time, been a boy soprano, before his voice had changed to an alto, then tenor, and finally, a baritone. 

He had actually envisioned himself marrying Lily in that kirk, he remembered bitterly now, wearing a Campbell kilt instead of wizarding robes, his uncle standing at his side while Lily walked down the aisle, a vision in white, with a length of tartan draped around her shoulders. He'd fantasized about their going to hear their own children warbling in the choir on Christmas Eve, beaming at them proudly, then tucking them into bed later while snow fell on the roof and they dreamed of the presents they would find under the tree on Christmas morning.... 

He turned abruptly when he heard the trap door open. Lily emerged, a red and gold Gryffindor scarf tied around her head against the cold. Her teeth were clacking as she said, "_Se-se-se-severus_! Why did you want to meet me up here? It's f-f-freezing!" 

He tried to swallow, but his mouth was utterly dry. He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her, tell her he loved her, but he couldn't, because he also hated her. How can a person love someone and hate them at the same time? he wondered. But he did; he hated her for making him love her when she had only ever pretended to love him, when she said things to others that made him a laughingstock, when she had slept with _Lupin_, of all people.... 

"I know," he said, keeping his voice steady. "I thought it appropriate." 

"Appropriate?" she said, shivering, pulling her cloak around her body more closely. "Appropriate for what?" 

He took a deep breath in through his nose; he had to just go ahead and do it. "Lily," he said resolutely, "it isn't working." 

She squinted at him. "What are you talking about? What isn't working?" 

She didn't know. She really had no idea how miserable he was, the ribbing he'd been enduring from the Slytherin girls--and then others, as the stories spread--who were so proud of themselves for tricking her into revealing intimate information about what they did together. Narcissa Anderssen was particularly intolerable. At first he had been indignant on Lily's behalf when Narcissa had laughed with a snort, saying, "She actually believed we wanted to be her friends! Her! A Mudblood!" And she'd gone off with her gang of bitches, laughing fit to kill, all of them. But then he remembered that _she'd_ only pretended to love him, and decided that, as much as he disliked Narcissa and the others, Lily had gotten what she deserved. The trouble was--he'd been a victim as well. 

"We aren't working," he said above the whistling of the wind, which was making the skin on his cheeks ache, it was so cold. "I asked you up here to end it." 

"End it?" she seemed to be saying, but it wasn't very loud, and the wind whipped the sound away, so that he could only go by the way her lips had moved. 

"Yes. It's over," he said clearly, his voice sounding too loud to him now, the wind having died down a bit. He took in the shock on her face, but he couldn't enjoy it. He knew he was hurting her, but he was hurting too. It was just too painful to continue the charade... 

"Over?" She seemed intent on just repeating the last thing he said each time she spoke. He nodded at her. 

"I'm sorry, Lily. I--I suppose we never should have expected it to work, after all. A Gryffindor and a Slytherin." 

She frowned at him. "You--you're breaking up with me? And because I'm a Gryffindor? I don't understand, Severus....I thought we were happy...." 

Now he felt a fury rise up in him, which helped him keep his resolve and not take her in his arms. "_Happy!_" he spat. "You think I was happy being made a laughingstock!" 

Her face crumpled; he saw cold tears leaking from her eyes, being whipped away almost immediately by the harsh, scouring wind. "I--I'm sorry, Severus. I didn't realize--Narcissa and the others--they were just pretending to be my friends. I feel so stupid. I don't know why, but I've never had a great deal of success being friends with girls. Maybe it comes from having a sister who's so horrid, I don't know...." 

He curled his lip into a sneer at her rationalization, but it was somewhat forced. "Don't make excuses. Although perhaps that _would_ explain how you don't seem to have any problem making friends with _boys._ Like Remus Lupin, for instance." He glared at her; her eyes opened wide, and he could tell that she knew _he_ knew. "Or James Potter," he couldn't resist adding, although he knew he risked looking petty and jealous now. And yet--her eyes widened further. _Good God,_ he thought. _Has she been getting up to something with Potter?_ He'd seen her looking at him in confusion; he'd seen her smiles sent his way, the easy affection she showered on him, the warmth in her eyes when she regarded him..... 

She looked down now, unable to meet his eyes, and he knew without a doubt that he'd made the right decision. _If I'd let this go on longer, she'd have been sneaking around behind my back with Potter, and then I'd have been an even greater laughingstock._ But it wasn't being a laughingstock he minded the most, although that was a great blow to his pride. It was her being with him while only pretending to love him. 

"Good-bye, Lily," he said tersely, turning to leave. 

As he opened the trap door, suddenly she pulled on his arm, crying into the wind, "No! Don't, Severus. I'm sorry! You have no idea how sorry!" 

She was crying in earnest. It was possible, he thought, that she had actually deluded herself into thinking she loved him. But he was not so deluded. With more willpower than he ever knew he possessed, he peeled her hands from his arm and said, "It's no good, Lily. It's over." 

He couldn't seem to find another way to express it; he kept just saying the same words over and over. He felt as though they were stuck in some kind of time loop, as though they would be standing at the top of this tower for an eternity, whipped by the wind and saying, "_It's over,_" and then, "_No, Severus!_" and "_It's over,_" again and again and again. 

He virtually ran down the steps, slamming the door after him. He had to get away from her; he couldn't stay any longer or he'd crack. He ran and ran, down one corridor and up strange stairs, until he wasn't even sure where he was. He ducked into a dusty, disused classroom, where the desks and chairs were pushed against the walls and someone had long ago written a rude limerick on the blackboard, which had never been erased. He didn't laugh at the limerick though; he sank down onto the filthy floor and cried, cried for the first time since he was a small child, cried as he hadn't cried when his own parents had been killed and the overriding emotion he'd felt was rage. He cried until he could cry no more, and all the while telling himself that it was for the best, it was for the best and he was better off without her. 

But he didn't believe it. 

* * * * *

_Friday, 23 December, 1977_

Lily stood in the entrance hall, her trunk beside her as she waited for the horseless carriage that would take her down to the village to get the train home for the Christmas holiday. She felt odd and empty inside ever since Severus had broken up with her the day before. She had stayed up on top of the Astronomy Tower, crying into the wind, and finally had to go see Madam Pomfrey for Pepper-Up Potion, because being up there had made her nose congested, and she'd developed a cough. 

When she returned to Gryffindor Tower, her ears still smoking from the potion, she explained where she'd been, and James and the others had assumed that she looked drawn and tired because she was ill. She didn't tell any of them that Severus had ended their relationship. She went straight to bed and didn't eat dinner, and no one checked on her, no one seemed to care at all whether she lived or died. She wallowed in self-pity and relived the conversation over and over, thinking of what she should have said, but it was too late--she always thought of those things _too late._ At four in the morning, she awoke, unable to sleep. She'd gone down to the common room with a quill and some parchment, and worked for over three hours on a letter to Severus. She'd gone through more than seven drafts. 

After classes, she had packed her trunk and gone down into the entrance hall with the other students who were getting the train home for the holiday. They were laughing and talking animatedly about what their holiday was going to hold, and no one seemed to notice that Hogwarts' Head Girl looked like death on toast. _I don't have any friends,_ she thought miserably, thinking of Cecilia, who was in the Hufflepuff common room visiting with her friends there; they would all be staying at the castle for the holiday. She remembered the Slytherin girls slyly fooling her into telling them things she never should have told anyone. She'd been a complete and utter fool, she knew. And now Severus had left her... 

She climbed into a horseless carriage to go to the station, and before she could close the door, some third years climbed in. She recognized Bill Weasley from her own house, along with some Hufflepuffs he'd been going around with since September. She wondered why he wasn't with the other third-year Gryffindor students much anymore. 

"Oh, hello," he said pleasantly. She forced herself to smile at him. 

"Hello." 

"Is it all right for us to ride in this carriage, then?" 

She shrugged. "Why wouldn't it be?" 

One of the Hufflepuffs had very wide eyes. "Because you're the Head Girl." 

She smiled at the boys. "It's perfectly all right. Settle in. I suppose you're all looking forward to seeing your families again." 

Weasley nodded vigorously. "Oh, yeah. My mum's expecting another baby in the spring, and she could really use my help with my little sisters and my baby brother." 

Lily regarded him with a sentimental half-smile. "Aren't you sweet..." she said, making his ears turn red. She noticed, however, that one of the other boys was clutching a worn-looking letter in his hand and looking miserable. 

"Are you all right? What's your name?" 

"Jack. No, not really all right, exactly." He waved the letter half-heartedly. "My mum and dad are splitting up, and neither one of them wants me for the holiday, so I'm going to my aunt's." 

Lily was surprised; she'd never heard of divorce in the wizarding world. "Oh--I'm sorry. That's dreadful." 

The boy shrugged and fingered the letter some more. "I've known for a while now. They wrote me a couple of months ago. But when I'm at school, I don't really have to deal with it, do I? When I'm not..." 

She nodded sympathetically and put her hand over his. "I understand what you mean," she said earnestly. Jack looked dazed, staring down at their touching hands. 

Then the other boy pointed to the floor of the carriage, saying, "You dropped something." Lily bent to pick it up, her face reddening. The nameless boy looked suspicious. "What's that?" he wanted to know. 

"Geoff!" Weasley chastised him for his nosiness. Lily smiled ruefully. 

"It's all right. It's a letter I wrote. To my boyfriend." 

Weasley frowned. "But I thought the Slytherin Keeper was your boyfriend. Why do you need to write him a letter before even leaving the castle?" 

She felt herself redden and said, "Well, technically, he isn't my boyfriend anymore. But--I was hoping that I could change his mind...." 

All three boys' jaws dropped, and Weasley said, "You mean he _broke up_ with you? Is he daft?" 

Lily smiled at him him more broadly than before. "I'll take that as a compliment. Yes," she said more softly, her smile fading. "He broke up with me yesterday." 

Jack was shaking his head and Geoff was looking incredulous. Weasley spoke again. "I can't believe someone broke up with _you_. And you wrote him a letter?" 

"Well--being Head Girl doesn't mean that you're perfect. I did something horrid, and I'm begging him to forgive me. It's not simple." 

They rode on in silence, and when they reached the station, Bill put his hand on her arm and said, "Good luck." 

He grinned broadly at her, his freckles standing out on his pale skin. She smiled back at him. 

"Thank you. And if I don't see you--Happy Christmas." 

"You too. Happy Christmas." 

She watched the boys walk off to find a compartment together, their easy friendship inducing a pang of jealousy in her. She'd never had a bond quite like that with anyone, not really. The closest she had come was with James, and even he hadn't told her about Remus. However--she remembered now that he'd said it wasn't his secret to tell. _That was James_, she thought. _Honorable to the last._ It no longer annoyed her, though. He was a good Head Boy, she knew, despite his having been sneaking around with Remus and the others at the full moon. He'd saved Severus' life. She started to get a lump in her throat as she thought of Severus, putting her hand in her cloak pocket, touching the folded parchment there. 

In the letter, she apologized to Severus for all of the dreadful things she'd done, telling him what she loved about him, begging him to reconsider....She had decided to give it to him on the train. She'd seen his face as he'd fled from her the day before and knew that he was only breaking up with her because of his pride; she could tell that he still loved her. If she put it to him right, she felt convinced, he'd surely reconsider. After all, after she'd screamed at him for taking the courage potion in order to kiss her, he _had_ shown up under the oaks at the appointed time. 

She looked in each compartment on the train starting at the beginning, searching for him. She finally found him, sitting alone in a compartment, staring out the window at the castle. "Severus," she choked, making his head whip around. He looked trapped, but she simply held out the parchment to him, and he took it. "I'm sorry, Severus, so sorry. Please--please just read this. Please reconsider." 

She turned and fled, going back several compartments, where she'd seen James and the other boys. They'd tried to get her to join them, and she'd said she would after she'd done something important. When she returned, they made room for her between James and Peter, while Remus and Sirius sat opposite. She watched the landscape start to slip by, barely listening to the boys' conversation, her stomach in knots as she wondered what Severus would say to the letter. 

Lily wasn't certain how long the train had been moving when their compartment door slammed open. Severus stood there, holding her letter. She gazed hopefully at him, but, looking right back at her, a steely glint in the dark eyes, he tore the parchment into small bits, tossed them into the air, and then set them afire with his wand, before sneering at them all and slamming the compartment door shut again with a final _BANG!_

The boys were all alarmed when Lily suddenly burst into tears, burying her face in her hands; she'd had such hope that, after having the opportunity to really think about what to say, it would make a difference. But it hadn't. He didn't want to be with her anymore. He hated her. 

"Clear off, all of you!" James hissed suddenly. She heard the other boys scramble for the door, and when she lifted her head, she and James were alone. He gathered her to him, his arms warm and sure around her, and as she sobbed into his shoulder, he muttered, "_There, there_," and smoothed her hair and patted her back and stroked her cheek. When she was done, he dried her tears and kissed her brow, and she went to sleep with his arm around her shoulders as the cold, wintry landscape of Scotland and England sped by. 

~~~~~~~ 

Thanks to everyone who commented on Chapter Seven! 

* * *

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	9. Epiphanies

**Title:** The Lost Generation (1975-1982) (09/20)  
**Author name:** Barb  
**Author email:** psychic_serpent@yahoo.com  
**Category:** Mystery  
**Sub Category:** Romance  
**Keywords:** MWPP Lily Snape Bill Weasley  
**Rating:** R  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA, Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent, Harry Potter and the Time of Good Intentions  
**Summary:** Bill Weasley begins his education at Hogwarts in 1975, in the middle of Voldemort's reign of terror. He never suspects that the Gryffindor prefects he looks up to, Lily Evans and James Potter, will eventually have a son who saves the wizarding world, nor that the Weasley family will eventually play an important role in the Dark Lord's fall. All he knows is that in a very scary wizarding world, Hogwarts is a safe haven where he has always longed to be--until, that is, there are whispers of vampires and werewolves, of Death Eaters and traitors, and a Seeress pronounces a Prophecy which will shake the wizarding world to its very foundations....  
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.   
**Author notes:** This chapter contains some Slytherin debauchery which is not for the squeamish. Descriptions are not explicit, but bear in mind that this is still an R-rated work, and this chapter certainly lives up to that. Please also bear in mind that this was started quite a while before Rowling's _Order of the Phoenix_ was released, and does not necessarily take anything into account that appears in that book. This is designed to be a prequel to _Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent_, which follows on the heels of _Goblet of Fire_ and also does not take into account anything that appears in _Order of the Phoenix_.  


* * *

**The Lost Generation**

(1975-1982)

Chapter Nine

** Epiphanies**

  
  
  


_Monday, 26 December, 1977_

Lily felt strange putting on her robes to go out in London, but they were covered up by her long cloak, so no one would be the wiser. Petunia and Vernon had gone to his sister Marge's for Christmas, so the Evans family was going down to Little Whinging, in Surrey, for Boxing Day, to see Petunia and her husband. Lily was not pleased to hear about this, telling her parents that she had expected to see her sister and brother-in-law on Christmas and had made plans to see some friends in London on Boxing Day. To avoid a day of Lily and Petunia sniping at each other, they'd agreed to let her abstain from the Surrey trip. 

It wasn't strictly true, though, that she was seeing friends in London. It was one friend: James. And it wasn't in London, exactly....After falling asleep in James' arms, on the train, she'd felt rather self-conscious waking in his embrace to find him staring down at her, his eyes very blue behind his spectacles, his look one of grave concern and--something else. She was a bit frightened for a moment, and swallowed, blinking sleepily. He had gently asked her whether she was ready to talk about 'it,' and assured her that she didn't have to. Instead, she asked him point-blank how he and the others stayed with Remus during the full moon. He took a deep breath and said to her, "We're Animagi." 

She had been speechless, and asked him how they'd done it, and what animals they became when they transfigured themselves. Now that all of the secrets were out, he spoke freely, telling her about the pain, the sneaking around, the question of whether they would all be able to do it, the thrill of finally accomplishing their goal. She, in turn, had talked about how stupid she felt to trust the Slytherin girls, how she didn't really blame Severus for having enough self-respect to not want to be mistreated by her any longer... 

James held her again and tutted softly, and she'd quieted and looked into his eyes for what felt like a very long time. Finally, he backed away a little, turning bright red, and asked whether she wanted to come to Ascog Castle on Boxing Day. She could use the Floo network to come from the Leaky Cauldron in London. She'd accepted the invitation and she and James spent the rest of the trip alone together, talking endlessly. 

Lily rode the tube to the Leaky Cauldron with a flutter in her chest. She'd never done anything like this before; she'd be traveling clear across the country by herself, to a different country, technically. It was hardly the same thing as traveling to Scotland on the school train, with hundreds of other students. When she reached the wizarding pub, she went to the bar and asked Old Tom whether she could buy some Floo powder from him; the five Sickles he charged her seemed a bit steep until she considered that she'd be traveling quite far on those five Sickles, and that James would have some Floo powder for her to get back, so she didn't have to buy enough to cover a return trip. She also knew that it was probably cheaper to buy somewhere in Diagon Alley, but Tom was charging partially for convenience. 

James had assured her that it was perfectly safe; she'd never done it before. He explained how to throw the powder into the fire, step into the green flames, speak clearly, and hold your elbows in. He'd given her a funny demonstration in their train compartment, pantomiming spinning through the network, then falling out of the "fire" with aplomb, looking rather like a gymnast who was trying to "stick" a landing after dismounting from the parallel bars or horse. When she'd said this, he'd had no idea what she was talking about, of course ("Don't you dismount from a horse with a mounting block?"), and they'd laughed about that too, as she tried to explain men's and women's gymnastics and the Olympics, and other things Muggles did for amusement. 

Tom accompanied her to the fireplace and held out the pouch to her; when she pinched some powder between her thumb and forefinger, she imagined she must have looked somewhat apprehensive, because he said skeptically to her, "You sure you know what you're doin'?" 

Lily swallowed and nodded, took a deep breath, and threw the powder into the fire, saying loudly and clearly, "_Ascog Castle!_" 

She stepped into the green flames and immediately felt herself whirling. Trying to keep her elbows in and yet also deal with her hair whipping in her face, she saw grate after grate whirling past, and sometimes she had glimpses of people, witches and wizards she'd never met, homes she'd never visit. Finally, she felt as though someone were pushing her out, and she stumbled forward, hitting something warm and solid which kept her from falling. 

It was James Potter. 

His arms were around her and he grinned down at her as she looked back at him, wide-eyed from her first Floo trip. She felt herself flush and straightened up and away from him. Her chest had been crushed against him, and their bodies hadn't had a sliver of air between. They'd hugged before, many times, and each had comforted the other in times of distress, but somehow--this was different. She shifted her weight from foot to foot awkwardly, while his smile became equally embarrassed-looking and he said with a croak in his throat, "You didn't stick the landing." He was trying to sound teasing, but there was something funny about the way his eyes looked.... 

"Hello, Lily," said a familiar voice nearby. Lily jumped, not having noticed another person standing in the doorway of the comfortable sitting room. Remembering the way she and James had been pressed together from knee to shoulder just moments before, she felt a warmth rise from her neck. However, as soon as she realized who was speaking, she felt warm from rage instead; somehow she had forgotten that James was living at Ascog because that was where Sirius lived. 

"Well!" she said tersely to James. "It was nice seeing you, James. I'll just be going now. Where do you keep your Floo powder?" She turned and searched the high mantle with her eyes. 

"Lily!" James said pleadingly. "Don't! I just--I just wish you two would _talk_. Please end this feud." 

"Feud! You call this a _feud_!" Lily exploded, turning around. "_I_ call it refusing to consort with an attempted murderer. Not to mention _Remus_ also would have died if he'd had _his_ way." 

"I never wanted that!" Sirius cried plaintively, striding into the room. 

She threw her hands up and rolled her eyes. "So that makes it all right? You're as bad as those animals who blew up Honeyduke's!" As soon as she said it, she wished she hadn't; the stricken look on his face, the unshed tears suspended in his dark eyes told her that her sharp words had hit their mark, and now she wished like anything that she had missed. "Oh! I--I'm sorry, Sirius," she found herself saying softly. "You're--you're not like a Death Eater....What you did was just--just so _stupid_ and _thoughtless_--" 

He nodded, looking thoroughly miserable. "I know, Lily. I know. I should have been expelled, I should have gone to prison...." 

She looked at him, feeling dreadful. She had thought these things herself, there was no denying it. But it would hardly be sporting to tell him so when he was saying this himself. Then she remembered Severus again, and Remus.... 

"What am I _doing_?" she suddenly asked no one in particular. "Why am _I_ apologizing to _you_?" He looked at her, the blazing green eyes and hair still wild from traveling by Floo, and she could see in the eyes looking back at her that he still cared about her, that he would take anything she had to dish out, without complaint. James looked back and forth between the two of them, his mouth drawn into a line. 

"Listen, Lily. I wasn't trying to trick you or anything. I thought--I thought it would be nice to have you come visit during the holiday. But I also thought that maybe--maybe you and Sirius could at least come to some sort of understanding, so we can all go on? I--I care about the two of you too much for you to be cross at each other all the time like this. It's been _months_, and you still aren't getting along. I'm going to leave the room; can you at least _try_ to talk? For me?" 

Lily could see that James was reddening ever so slightly, and she thought about his words: _I care about the two of you too much._ She had known that James cared about her, in an oblique sort of way, for years, but hearing him say it was different. When they didn't protest, he turned and left, leaving Lily and Sirius standing in the middle of the room, awkwardly looking about (but not at each other). Finally, evidently remembering that this was his home, Sirius waved a hand at one of the squashy couches around the fire and said, "Have a seat?" 

Lily positioned herself on the edge of a cushion, primly folding her hands on her lap as though she were waiting to perform in a piano recital. She looked at Sirius expectantly. He was sitting on the other couch, perpendicular to hers, cracking his knuckles compulsively, making Lily flinch. Finally, she said, "I think you might be the one to start, especially since if you keep that up I'm going to hex your fingers so they'll be in a permanent knot and you won't be able to do that any more." 

Sirius swallowed and then cleared his throat, crossing his arms in attempt to keep his hands apart, and then just sitting on his hands instead. "I--I don't know what to say, Lily," he began, his voice cracking with emotion. "Any name you want to call me, any curse you want to put on me, I'd deserve it, because--because if Remus had--had hurt Snape, it would have ended up hurting _you_, and you're the last person in the world I ever want to--" 

"Stop!" she cried. She had never felt so embarrassed in her life. "Please stop, Sirius. Don't--don't _grovel_. I--oh, I don't want to go on being on the outs with you." Her voice had grown very soft, and she realized as soon as she said it that it was true. She'd begun to treasure her resentment of Sirius; to let it go would be to release something comfortable and familiar, a constant companion since the incident in September, a poor replacement for having friends in her own house, but still....She felt a shivering begin in the pit of her stomach as she contemplated just letting it go; it was both terrifying and--something she'd longed for without realizing how much. She felt _tired_--so tired of actively nurturing this grudge, and the thought of releasing it was both frightening and liberating. "I--I hate what you did but--but you're James and Remus' best friend, and I don't want--what I mean is--I got into a rut, these past few months. Once I started being nasty and cold to you, I didn't know how to _stop_--" 

"So--why were you nasty to Snape, too?" he asked. She looked at him, aghast. 

"Could--could everyone tell? _I_ couldn't even see it, not right away. I've--I've been thinking of almost nothing else for the last few days..." When she wasn't thinking of James...She smiled ruefully. "It wasn't even just the things he brought up when he was breaking up with me...There were a lot of little things that accumulated, one on top of another, until--until he broke. And _I_ broke him...Oh--it's a wonder he put up with me as long as he did...I was so thoughtless. He was almost killed, and then I--" 

"That's not why you were like that to him. Well, not entirely." 

She stopped. "You seem to know quite a lot. Care to enlighten me?" 

"You didn't really want to be with him any more. He finally figured it out, or accepted it, as the case may be. He could tell you wanted to be with someone else. I could too." 

She raised her eyebrows at him. _So, we're back to that again. He thinks I'm still not over him._ "Oh, really? Well, let me remind you that you rather miscalculated and thought I wanted to be with _you_ before I hexed you; afterward I didn't speak to you for a time. Did you think that was my way of saying, 'Come and get it?'" 

"No, no. I didn't mean _me._ I meant James, of course." 

"James!" 

"Yes, James." Sirius looked her in the eye, and she could see that, despite the fact that he was trying to call her attention to James Potter, he still cared about her a great deal. _He's making it very hard to be cross with him,_ she thought, realizing that she'd somehow _known_ that he would, if she'd allowed him to actually talk to her, which was why she'd avoided it for three months. He was looking at her now with those puppy-dog eyes. And then she remembered that James had told her that Sirius' Animagus form was a large black dog, and she laughed at the thought. He frowned. 

"What's so funny?" 

She drew her mouth into a line in an attempt to refrain from further laughter. "Nothing. You were--_what_ were you saying, exactly?" 

Sirius took a deep breath and looked at the fire now. "I saw the way you looked at him after he saved Snape. When we came back after our suspension was over. And I know that you wrote to him while he was back here. Every few days." 

She looked down at her hands. "I was--I was keeping him apprised of what was going on at school. I'm Head Girl. He's Head Boy." 

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "So those owls were just business, were they? They why wouldn't James show any of them to me?" 

She felt warm again. "I don't know," she said softly. When she'd written to him, she'd seen him in her mind's eye, lying in the bed in the infirmary, looking at her with that clear, honest expression of love on his face, after stating that he'd saved Snape to spare her unhappiness. Not the best reason to save someone's life, to be sure, but certainly honest. He didn't pretend that he was doing it on principle, as some people might. Except that James _was_ the sort of person who'd do it on principle, and then try to cover it up, make excuses.... 

Lily also found herself wondering repeatedly whether Severus would do the same thing, whether he would save James, Sirius, Remus or Peter from a certain death. She thought and thought about it. It probably occupied her mind more than the fact that James _had_ saved _Severus._ She wasn't sure when she had decided, _No, Severus would probably never do that..._ but she had a nagging feeling that it was sometime after that that she began being less-than-loving to Severus, that she started making careless remarks about him and even joined in with other students making vampire jokes. She'd tried to forget his furious face when she'd done this, she reminded him that she knew better, knew that it was the porphyria, and it was all in fun--but was it? Didn't he have a right to expect his girlfriend to stick up for him, to show a little more loyalty than that, to refrain from laughing at him? Was she really behaving as a loving girlfriend should when she did these things? 

She looked up at Sirius. "Don't expect miracles," she said quietly. "I think--I think I can be civil to you for James' sake. You're like a brother to him. But if you pull one tiny stunt when we're back at school, I will _not_ hesitate to give you detention...." 

He grinned and hugged her quickly; she could tell he was reluctant to let her go, but he did. He held her shoulders now, though. "And James? How do you feel about him?" 

She looked at him shrewdly. "Has he _told_ you something? Is he really putting us in the same room to make up, or so you can convince me that I want James to be my new boyfriend?" 

Sirius smiled ruefully. "James wants us to make up. _I_ want you to see that James is the bloke for you." 

She narrowed her eyes, watching his ardent, animated face. "Why? Are you saying you're not interested in me anymore?" She knew she sounded suspicious--and she was. 

Sirius reddened. "No. I'll be completely honest with you Lily--there's no way I'd turn you down right now if you wanted to kiss me. Or anything else. But--I know that's not going to happen. And I think the one you _do_ want to be with that way is James, and I can tell that he wants to be with you. I want you both to be happy; it's like James said, only it's me this time: I care too much about you both. I want you both to be happy." He shook his head, giving her a lopsided smile. "This is so perfect it's almost scary, Lily. And even if you decided that you two don't want this--I will _still_ do anything for both of you. You have a willing slave for life. I'd crawl over broken glass for miles. I'd--" 

Lily held up her hand. "I get it, I get it." He looked at her, that expression of both love and hopelessness in the dark, glistening eyes again. She sighed. "All right, Sirius. We'll call a truce. That doesn't mean I forgive you for what you almost did to both Severus and Remus, but it means I think we can go on anyway. Put it behind us." Her voice had become very quiet. "Did Remus--did Remus ever tell you about us?" 

He looked embarrassed and glanced away from her. "I figured it out on my own. I was a little jealous at first, but then--then I thought--Remus deserved some happiness. And then the stupid git decides that he _doesn't_ deserve it at all, that he shouldn't be with anyone because he's not 'fit,' and--and he basically throws it out the window." 

She nodded. "I told him I loved him and he claimed he didn't love me back, that he just thought of me as a friend, but--but he looked so odd. Like he was going to be sick any moment. He didn't look like even _he_ believed what he was saying," she told him softly. "But I had to accept it at face value. He clearly wasn't going to change his mind...." 

Sirius shook his head. "He loved you--loves you still, Lily. Is there any chance you still love him, rather than James? Is that--is that why you've been so hesitant about James?" 

She was the one shaking her head now. "No. I care what happens to Remus, but I don't feel the same way about him anymore. Something changed in me when I found out that he was a werewolf...." 

Sirius stood, frowning. "What? Are you one of those bigots who--" 

"Calm down, will you?" she said quickly. "I didn't mean that like it sounded. I don't hold anything against him for just being a werewolf. But I'm possibly always going to be upset with him for not telling me himself. For not being honest with me." She looked at the fire, trying to will herself not to cry. "And for not taking a chance and admitting that he loved me, letting me into his world, letting me help him cope. I could have been as supportive as any of you if he'd only _let_ me." She looked up at Sirius again, no longer feeling like she was going to cry. "But as long as he's not convinced he deserves to be loved, there's nothing I or anyone else can do to help him." 

She spoke very quietly, but she could tell that he caught every word, as he was nodding in silent agreement the entire time she was speaking. "All right," he said, "so why is it you're hesitant about James when you don't have any interest in me or Remus? I'm assuming it's not because you've decided you fancy Peter." 

She tried not to laugh. "No, I don't fancy Peter. He can be very sweet to me sometimes, but--I don't know. He _fawns_ a bit much. No; the reason why I'm not rushing out of the room and into James' arms is--I don't know that I want to at all." 

Sirius looked rather upset at this. "What? Why? James is the best! Honestly, Lily, you could never possibly find anyone better in the entire world--" 

She nodded. "I know, I know. That's one reason why." 

Sirius frowned, coming to a dead stop. "Huh?" was all the response he could muster. 

She plucked at her robes nervously. "I haven't had a great track-record with boys so far, have I? I crushed on you, changed my mind just as you realized I existed, fell for another good friend, Remus, who decided not to tell me a very, very important detail about himself, then right on the heels of Remus rejecting me, I run into Severus' arms. I don't want to do that again. If--and I emphasize _if_--I have another boyfriend--_any_ boyfriend--while I am still in school, it won't be for a couple of months, at least. I need to recover from this whole thing with Severus. I need to try to think through some things, like whether I want to risk losing James as a friend if we try to be together and it doesn't work out. I don't think I could take that..." 

Sirius nodded. "Fair enough." 

"And--oh, Sirius! I'm so young! And so is James. And--I just--he's the sort of boy who--" She sighed, frustrated at not being able to say what she meant. "All right. Let me see if I can explain this. To me, James isn't the sort of boy you just date in school and he's your school boyfriend, and then you each finish school and go off into the world and put all that behind you. James isn't the sort of person you _break up_ with. He's the sort--" Her voice caught. "He's the sort of boy--_man_--that you _marry_. I just--I don't know. I feel like if I were to start seeing James--that would be it for me. For the rest of my life. And I wonder whether I'd feel restless when I'm older, because I didn't see a lot of people before him....I don't want to resent him, ever. And I don't want him to resent me. He's only had Bonnie. Is that usual for boys? How many girlfriends have you had?" 

Sirius frowned, thinking. "This year?" 

She threw up her hands. "My point exactly. For me, being with James right now is--scary. It would be a very thorough step into adulthood. He's not like the rest of the boys at school. Yes, he clowns around with you, but--somehow, he's still different. His integrity is different, his authority is different, his--" She stopped, embarrassed. 

Sirius smiled at her. "You're not able to hide how you feel about him. All right, all right, I understand why it's scary for you to be with James when you're so young, and since you don't want to lose him as a friend. Fine. You'll be single for a while. If you like, I can _pretend_ to be your boyfriend sometimes, if you want to ward off other blokes..." 

Lily laughed. "Oh, right, and give you an excuse to suddenly snog me, as a cover story. What's so wrong with me just saying to the world, 'I don't want a boyfriend for at least a couple of months.' Does that make me unforgivably weird?" 

"No, it doesn't make you weird at all," James said from the doorway. Lily felt herself flush, wondering how much James had heard. "Thought I'd check on you two, assess the damage. All limbs in the right place?" He grinned at them. 

"Lily was just saying that I shouldn't be trying to date her just yet, as she wants some time to get over Snape," Sirius said laconically, draping an arm around Lily's shoulders. She promptly took it from around her and spun, so that now the arm was twisted behind Sirius' back. He grunted. "I mean--unh!--just saying that she--damn, Lily! That hurts!" 

James laughed. "That's all right." He looked at her, his gentle eyes very understanding. "I still haven't had another girlfriend, since Bonnie died. Nothing wrong with being unattached." 

She nodded, still unsure of how much of what Sirius had said had been discussed between the two of them in advance. _If James Potter ever does want to pursue me,_ she thought grumpily, _he'd damn well better do it himself instead of just having Sirius spend all day singing his praises._

She let go of Sirius' arm and stepped away from him. He flexed his arm, grimacing slightly. "You're fast," he said, impressed. 

"Older sister I detest. You learn things." 

Twisting his arm behind his back didn't seem to dampen Sirius' feelings for her one iota; now that he wasn't in pain anymore, he seemed to be thinking about something else entirely, and he suddenly clapped his hands together. "Oi! I know what we could do! The pool!" 

Lily frowned. "Pool?" She glanced out the windows to the courtyard; the flagstones were frosted and drifts of snow softened the corners. "Um, are you mad?" 

They both laughed. "Hardly," James said. "And you could probably wear this bathing outfit Ursula bought that she won't be using any time soon. She wanted to do some slimming first, but--well, she's going to have a baby. So she doesn't expect to use it. She'll have even _more_ slimming to do after having the baby..." 

Lily grinned at Sirius. "You're going to be an uncle! Congratulations!" 

Sirius grinned. "Yeah, I'll be that disreputable uncle every kid loves to have about...." 

James hit his arm with the back of his hand. "Just go up to Ursula and Alan's room and get it so Lily can go swimming." 

"Actually, you should come with me, Lily, and then you can use Ursula and Alan's en suite bath to change. James and I are on the top floor. Then we'll meet you back down in the entrance hall--" 

"But--but--" she sputtered. "You still haven't explained how we're to tolerate the cold. Spells?" 

"You'll see. It's downstairs; paradise in a dungeon." 

Lily had previously thought that was what Severus had created for her, their first night together, but she didn't say so. "That sounds like an oxymoron." 

Sirius stepped in front of James. "Are you calling my best friend a moron?" he demanded only half-seriously. 

James shooed him from the room. "Oh, get on with you. Come on, Lily. The stairs are this way." She followed them out into a rather small hall lined with hooks and benches for cloaks and boots; the only decoration was a series of mounted fish high above the hooks. The curving stone stairs reminded her of the Tower of London, and of more than a few Hogwarts stairs. When they reached the landing with Ursula and Alan's room, Sirius and James casually opened the door and let themselves in. She saw a generously proportioned bedroom with a large semi-circular bay window thrusting out over the courtyard, but not obscuring it. There were warm tapestries and hangings on the walls and the four-poster bed, and a beautifully carved walnut armoire, desk and bureau. Sirius went rummaging in the bureau and came up with a bag from a Muggle shop in London, from which he pulled a rather modest one-piece bathing outfit in sapphire blue. Lily was relieved to see that it could hardly be called daring, and that it was real, not created from magic that could give out eventually, leaving her wearing nothing at all. At least she was _fairly_ certain it was real.... 

After they'd gone, she let herself into the large bath that adjoined the room and, after first saying, "_Finite Incantatum_" over it in case it _did_ carry any spells, she donned the bathing outfit, marveling that it fit her so well, and complemented her coloring, and didn't reveal anything she didn't _want_ to reveal. She felt a little self-conscious about being so pale and freckled (redhead's curse) but there was no help for that. She put her robes over the bathing outfit to look a little more respectable until they reached the pool and went back down the circular stairs. 

When she reached the entrance hall, she stopped in shock; Sirius and James were waiting for her in their swimming trunks, towels slung over their shoulders. She realized that she'd never seen either one of them with so little on, and she reddened, attempting to both avert her eyes and sneak peaks at the same time. She was _not_ prepared for this. _I'm going to be unattached for a while, I'm going to be unattached for a while..._ she chanted in her head, trying not to look at James' shoulders (or back, or arms, or legs...) as he walked before her down the stairs to the dungeons. 

When they reached the pool room, Lily stopped, gawping at it, enthralled. The room had an arched ceiling like the Great Hall at Hogwarts and was also enchanted to look like the sky. There was a moving mural on the walls which depicted a garden, complete with birds, squirrels and gnomes. The interior of the pool was painted turquoise blue, so that the water also appeared to be turquoise. She felt like she was getting surprise after surprise, and laughed out loud, turning her head to look at all of it at once, unable to keep from smiling. 

"No wonder you came back from your fortnight suspension looking so well rested," she said to the boys, watching as a garden gnome on the wall waved to her, then ran under a shrub, which continued to shiver after the gnome disappeared from sight. 

Sirius smiled ruefully; she tried to look at his face and not his body, as well. He was every bit as distracting as James. "Oh, we weren't allowed in the pool while we were suspended. My mum reamed me out good, and even though she didn't ream James out, we were both basically confined to our room except for meals. A fortnight of being cooped up with _him_," he said, jerking his thumb at James. "It's a wonder I didn't wind up in St. Mun--" 

Grinning mischievously, James suddenly gave Sirius a push, and, after windmilling his arms for a moment, his best friend fell forward into the water with a tremendous _splash!_ that threw water onto Lily's robes and onto a good deal of the walkway around the pool. Sirius surfaced, shaking his head to clear his wet hair from his eyes. "All right, Potter. Now you've done it. My towel's all wet!" He brandished the damp cloth that had been draped around his shoulders before he'd fallen in. 

James relented. "All right, give it here. I'll hang it up to dry." But when Sirius was certain James had a good hold on it, he pulled and James came tumbling into the pool, his towel also still around his neck. Lily couldn't prevent the laughter that escaped her. 

James surfaced, shaking his hair out of his face, as Sirius had done. His glasses were still on, but covered in water. "You bloody sod!" he said to Sirius. He walked to the side of the pool and put his now-soaking towel on the walkway, as well as his useless glasses. Then he turned and Lily saw a glint in his blue eyes that told her Sirius was in deep trouble. Sure enough, James suddenly dove under the water and swam toward Sirius' legs, and it was the work of a moment for him to yank Sirius--who was flailing his arms again--under the surface. James then swam underwater toward the end of the pool where Lily was still standing, clad in her robes. He surfaced right in front of her, pushing his hair out of his face instead of shaking it, so he wouldn't get her wet, saying, "Well, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to come in?" 

She had managed to stop laughing and stood above him, her arms crossed on her chest while she tried to keep a straight face. "Oh, I thought I'd just watch the pair of you behaving like ten-year-olds for a while." But she couldn't prevent a smile from stretching across her face, and she uncrossed her arms. "Be prepared. I've been swimming since I could walk, you know." 

She opened the robes and turned to hang them on a hook on the wall, not realizing the effect she was having on the boys behind her. _Blimey_ was all that came into James' mind, and he didn't need his glasses to follow the line of her long legs up from her feet to her knees to her-- 

_Splash_! 

Lily had leapt into the pool suddenly, then surfaced, laughing, her long red hair darkened by the water and suddenly sleek and cohesive. She didn't see the looks the boys had had when they'd first seen her without her robes, as they were now both wiping water from their eyes. She grinned and laid back on the surface, looking at the imitation sky and lazily doing a backstroke. "This is lovely," she said, not looking at either one of them. "It's a good thing, too, that your mum didn't let you down here during your suspension, Sirius. That would hardly be a punishment." 

"Still, I was hoping she wouldn't think of it. Unfortunately--" 

"--unfortunately, your mum isn't _daft_," James finished, splashing water in Sirius' face. Sirius splashed back, and soon there was a cloud of mist hovering above the surface from the furious splash war going on, which Lily, shedding her need to appear to be the "mature" one, happily joined. They raced and splashed and dove for Knuts, and by lunchtime were thoroughly exhausted, lounging by the side of the pool, idly watching the garden gnomes, who were shooting them cheeky grins. 

"This is nice," James said, lying between Lily and Sirius. "The three of us, all getting along again." He turned to look at Lily, who had tipped her head back and closed her eyes. He followed the line of her long neck down, down..._She's so beautiful..._ But he remembered what he'd heard her say to Sirius: _What's so wrong with me just saying to the world, 'I don't want a boyfriend for at least a couple of months.' Does that make me unforgivably weird?_ She was still wounded, wounded by Severus Snape. James had fought the urge to get a ferry up to Dunoon, hunt down Snape and wring his neck with his bare hands. She had sobbed so, cradled against him, on the train. She had attacked herself, said how much she deserved it, and he had contradicted her every time....Seeing her now, with so little on, he was at a complete loss; how could Snape have let her go? When he was being realistic he knew she wasn't _completely_ perfect. He knew her faults, after being her friend for more than six years. But if anything, those faults made him love her more. _He doesn't know you, and he never will,_ James thought, his eyes moving back to her face. He saw, with alarm, that her eyes were open now, and that she was looking back at him. _She knows I was gawping at her,_ he thought, feeling himself flush. 

She didn't speak. She had opened her eyes to see James looking at her body in a frankly admiring way, and she'd been unprepared for that. First, she didn't think much of her body--she thought she was too thin and gawky. Second, _this was James._ She couldn't recall a single time he'd ever looked at her that way. Except--except when she'd broken her leg. Before he'd helped her don her dressing gown over her night dress, he'd been looking at her strangely, and she wondered how much he could see through the night dress. It _was_ rather thin....She swallowed, allowing her eyes to move over his body now. She didn't imagine that Quidditch alone was responsible for those arms and legs, for that stomach and those shoulders....She shook herself. _Stop it._ He probably kept fit swimming in the pool during the holidays....Sirius, too.... 

It was so odd to her that they were all so grown up now. She suddenly had a very vivid memory of their Sorting, over six years earlier.... 

_     A storm struck up while they were crossing the lake, and she clung to the side of the fragile little boat, terrified.     Two of the other children in the boat with her were equally pale and drawn, occasionally whimpering in fright as the wind     whipped the surface of the lake into fearsome swells. One boy, though, didn't seem to mind. Even though he was the     smallest of the four of them, with black hair that stood on end even while damp from the rain and smudged glasses that     sat crookedly on his thin face, he held on tightly to the edge of the boat and grinned at his traveling companions. 

    "S'all right, don't worry," he piped in a charming alto voice that carried a hint of Wales. "Nothing bad can happen to     you here. We're at Hogwarts! Or as good as!" 

    He gave them a brilliant, crooked-toothed smile and Lily 
__did_ suddenly feel that it was going to be all right. If     this slip of a boy could be so brave, so could she. When she discovered that the ceiling of the Great Hall reflected the     stormy sky outside, she gazed at it in awe, and then at the floating candles and the long tables stretching down the     enormous space, the head table with its regal-looking witches and wizards, the professors who would try to pound     knowledge into their heads for seven years. 

    When she turned to a boy beside her to see what someone else thought of all this, she thought her knees just might     buckle. He was the most beautiful boy she'd ever seen, glittering black eyes and smooth dark hair sweeping back from his     brow, his even white teeth visible when he flashed a blinding smile, and even a dimple in his chin that made her think of     her dad teasing her mum about an actor she liked who had a cleft chin--what was his name? Kirk Douglas. That was it.     He had a chin just like Kirk Douglas. All thoughts of Hawthorn, her previous crush at her Muggle school, fled from her     brain as she beheld the boy beside her. 

    Then she realized that she was rather staring, and that he looked almost like he expected girls to stare at him, and she     pulled her eyes away, feeling foolish. They all marched forward when they were told, Lily trying not to stare at the     beautiful boy. He was one of the first to be Sorted. Lily had recognized Professor McGonagall when she'd greeted them     in the entrance hall, and after a couple of other students had been Sorted, McGonagall read from a scroll in her hands,     "Sirius Black!" 

    Lily saw him step forward; he was one the tallest of the first years, moving with a confidence unlike that of most     eleven-year-olds. She remembered the name: 

    Sirius Black. 

    He sat on the stool and McGonagall placed the hat on him; it was a matter of perhaps ten seconds before it cried,     "GRYFFINDOR!" 

    He leapt up, looking almost smug, as though this is what he expected, and the students at the Gryffindor table whooped     and hollered and generally made a racket. Lily didn't know anything about the house system, and hadn't been paying much     attention when the Sorting Hat had been singing its song about the four houses, but she knew that Gryffindor certainly     sounded like the best house to her now. She only had to wait for a half-dozen or so other students to be sorted before     Professor McGonagall read her name from the scroll: 

    "Lily Evans." 

    Her heart thudding in her ears, she managed to walk forward without tripping over her robes. McGonagall placed the hat     on her and it slid down to her shoulders, plunging her into darkness. What was going to happen now? 

    And then she heard the voice: "Ah, it's you. I've been waiting for you...." 

    Lily swallowed. "Er, me?" she thought back at it. Somehow she instinctively knew that she didn't need to speak aloud.     She knew that she was hearing the voice with her mind and not her ears. 

    "Yes, you," it answered her in a gruff sort of voice. 

    "Er, why?" She felt that she was being a very poor conversationalist, but she hadn't previously realized that making     conversation was required for the Sorting. Until several minutes before she'd entered the Great Hall, she hadn't even     heart of Sorting or a Sorting Hat. No one she'd met on the train had had a clue, as she'd only managed to sit with other     first-year Muggle-born witches and wizards. The older students all tended to band together with their friends, and new     students of wizarding background did the same. 

    "Why? Because you will be famous, my girl, beyond your wildest imaginings. If you choose. But fame will come at a     price. And today is one of the days when you will make a choice that will affect you for the rest of your life." 

    "I will? But I thought you chose which house was right for us." 

    "You're different. For one thing, you have many gifts. You are fiercely loyal and very hardworking; you could be a     Hufflepuff. You also have a sharp, astute mind that would be at home in Ravenclaw. But you have other traits as well.     Your ambition and cunning could making you a Slytherin no one will soon forget. You're a natural leader, and a Slytherin     leader is a force to contend with indeed. The impact you could have on the world is great. But--but your bravery, ah,     your bravery and your capacity to love....that's what could make you a Gryffindor." 

    "Me? Brave?" 

    "My girl, your love and bravery could change the world, if you choose. But you must choose." 

    She thought of the beautiful boy who had already been sorted into Gryffindor; but suddenly she felt as though she were     being tempted, and as though it would be wicked to choose Gryffindor based just on that. "Tell me what else Gryffindors     do. I don't remember what you sang." 

    The hat said some very grand things about fighting for others, and saving even your enemies, laying down your life for a     good cause. She felt very small. "And you have the capacity to do all of those things," it said, though she doubted it.      "You also share characteristics associated with the other houses, as I said. But I think you would do best in Slytherin     or Gryffindor." 

    "And I have to choose?" 

    "Yes." 

    She hadn't realized this. She thought of all of the great and noble things Gryffindors did and felt rather humbled. Is     that really me? she thought. And what about what it said before, about me becoming famous, if I choose? Which choice     will lead to that? Do I even want to be famous, and what will I be famous for? These thoughts whirled around her head,     until finally, she said, "All right. You can't give me the least little hint?" 

    "You choose. However--let me help you. You have a sister, do you not?" 

    "Y--yes." 

    "And if she was hurt, would you help her?" 

    "Of course." 

    "But you do not like your sister." 

    "What does that matter? If anyone were hurt, I'd help them if I could, whether I knew them or not. What reason would I     have for not helping them?" 

    The hat paused. "What if they killed your parents?" 

    She stopped, not expecting this. I'm only eleven, she wanted to say. Why do I suddenly feel that the weight of the     world is being placed on me? But after considering the hat's question, she finally answered. "I would help the person     but make sure he was turned in to the police, so that justice could be served. It wouldn't be justice for me to let him     die; I'd be no better than a vigilante then." 

    "You have chosen," it told her. 

    "I have?" she said, bewildered. 

    "Another one for GRYFFINDOR!" it suddenly bellowed, and she knew now that she should remove the hat and proceed to the     Gryffindor table, where the stunning boy named Sirius Black was already sitting, surrounded by older students. She     blinked when she emerged from the dark hat, the bright candles hurting her eyes. She only stumbled once on her way to     the cheering Gryffindor table, coloring deeply, wondering about some of the things the hat had said to her.... 

    Finally, the little boy who'd been in the same boat with her was walking forward to be Sorted; she didn't catch his name     when McGonagall read it. She had noticed that when the students whose surnames began with 'F' were being Sorted, it was     far faster than her Sorting. Every now and then the hat would take a little longer to do someone, but it still didn't     seem very long to her. Perhaps it had only seemed to her that she had had the hat on for a rather long time? When     McGonagall lowered the hat over the head of the boy from the boat, it was the fastest Sorting she'd yet seen. Before it     had even completely obscured his face, it was crying out, "GRYFFINDOR!" 

    An enormous smile split his face as McGonagall removed the hat from him and he raced to their table amid the requisite     cheering; Lily laughed while she clapped along with her other fellow Gryffindors; she'd never seen anyone look so     thoroughly thrilled in all her life. He slid into a space next to Sirius Black and the taller boy slapped him on the     back. The two of them were sitting across the table from Lily. She saw that the small boy with the messy hair and the     glasses also had round blue eyes that were excitedly taking everything in. He grinned at Lily and said, "Hullo! I'm     James Potter and this is my best friend, Sirius Black! You were in my boat, weren't you? What's your name?" 

    She couldn't help but smile back at the happy boy, who had made her feel better when they'd been crossing the choppy     lake. 

    "I'm Lily Evans." 

She lifted her eyes to his face again and discovered that he was still looking right back at her. _He knows I was looking at his body,_ she thought with deep embarrassment. There was an incredibly awkward moment when they were each looking into each other's eyes, silent, but suddenly, Sirius _thwacked!_ James in the back of the head with a wet towel, saying, "Time for lunch! I'll get us some dry towels from the changing rooms. Hang on." 

Sirius disappeared, and James scrambled to his feet, then held out a hand to her, helping her stand. He didn't let go of her hand right away. When Sirius returned with the towels, they each draped one around their waists, and one around their shoulders. Shrouded thusly, they made their way up to the kitchen, Lily in the rear, remembering what she'd said to Sirius: 

_James isn't the sort of person you _break up_ with....He's the sort of boy--_man_--that you _marry. 

The thought made her chest hitch, made her stomach flop in fear. But she pushed this thought away. _The future isn't today,_ she reminded herself. _The future is still--in the future._ And so, with that thought instead, she made sandwiches with the boys, and they talked and laughed around the kitchen table, and managed not to grow up even a little bit more that day, to Lily's enormous relief. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"_Aaaah!_" 

They all screamed in delight when Jack's eyebrows became singed. He had been the only one in their game of Exploding Snap to remain unburnt, and now his luck had run out. Bill, Alex, Jack, Geoff and Charlie sat around the kitchen table, smoke drifting upward from each of them now, as they laughed and continued playing. 

The holiday so far had been wonderful, in Bill's opinion. He'd received bonafide Christmas presents, with a promise that when he was back at school in January he'd receive a completely _separate_ birthday present; Charlie and Annie weren't attacking each other constantly (Annie actually seemed to have missed him); it was wonderful to see how Peggy and Percy had grown; and he never quite remembered how much he missed his parents until he saw them again, beaming at him and Charlie as they stepped off the train, making him get that warm feeling in the pit of his stomach that said, _I'm home._ He wasn't at the Burrow yet, but all he really needed in the world to feel at home was to see his mum and dad. _They_ were his home. And his brothers and sisters. It didn't matter how tumble-down their house was, Bill felt, as long as they had each other. 

His mum and dad had let him invite his mates for Boxing Day, and he'd even managed to talk Alex into coming. Alex said that his parents had Wood relatives coming over to their house, his father's side of the family, whom he'd rather avoid, anyway. Bill had asked him whether he'd be missed, but Alex had said, "Nah. They're really coming to see the baby, anyway. I mean, Oliver is all right, I suppose. He'll entertain them. No one will miss me." 

Bill had wondered at the dejected note in his friend's voice, and wondered also whether he and Geoff and Jack should have made more of an effort to include him in their activities during the autumn term. Perhaps he assumed that they hadn't missed him, either. As he watched Alex play cards, it seemed to Bill that he was more like his old self, laughing, making off-color remarks (except when Bill's mother was in the room) and winking cheekily at Annie when she poked her head around the kitchen doorway, making her blue eyes widen and her thin, freckled face grow even paler than it had already been before it disappeared abruptly again. Charlie chuckled when he saw this. 

"_Someone_ has a crush on you..." he couldn't resist saying, and Bill had a feeling that this would be a new way for Charlie to torture Annie while he was at home. 

Alex scowled, wishing he hadn't instinctively tried to amuse the little girl. "She's seven! She is seven, right Bill?" 

Bill grinned. "Yeah. But I think Charlie may be right. She's never looked that way at any of my other friends." 

Alex shook his head, glaring at the cards in his hand. "_Bleeding seven-year-old_," he muttered. _Right_, he thought. _I appeal to seven-year-old girls, and grandmas who love to pinch my cheek, and I don't even fancy girls at all. Lucky me._

But none of his friends knew this about him yet, and he wasn't prepared to tell them. Only Remus Lupin knew, and he felt, somehow, that he could trust him to keep this information to himself--if he even remembered that he knew. Lupin was a seventh year, and probably too preoccupied about his N.E.W.T.s to remember having once comforted a second year in an empty classroom.... 

Alex wondered whether Lupin realized that he sometimes followed him with his eyes; he'd been alarmed, worried that Lupin would look up and find him looking back, but it had never happened. It was almost as though Alex didn't exist at all. He tried not to think about the older boy, who'd been so understanding when he'd needed it, but at night, lying in his bed alone, it was impossible to tame his dreams.... 

"Who'd like some hot chocolate?" Mrs. Weasley said suddenly, bustling into the kitchen, her rather pregnant belly under a loud flowered apron she'd wrapped around her robes, as if to emphasize her condition (which was somewhat redundant). All of the boys answered in the affirmative, and when they'd laid aside their cards to drink from the steaming mugs, Bill's mother beamed at them all affectionately, patting her own boys on the head before leaving the room. Alex could tell she really loved being a mother. Which made sense, as she was about to have her sixth baby in a few months. She was cheerful about being pregnant too, as his mother had not been when she was expecting Oliver. Everyone had had to steer a wide path around her and her hormonal rages for nine months. He was glad he'd been at school some of that time. He shook his head and grinned at Bill. 

"You're lucky your mum _likes_ expecting a baby. My mum was a holy terror." 

Bill looked fondly at the doorway where his mother had just disappeared. "Oh, she has her moments. But mostly--yeah. She's looking forward to having another baby. A playmate for Percy, she and Dad say. That's why Charlie and I are only about two years apart, and Peggy and Annie, too. We've each got a partner in crime this way," he said, grinning at his brother. 

"Right!" Charlie agreed. "So why is it that Annie and I are always going at it, and you and Peggy are always making us break it up?" 

"Because that's just what brothers and sisters do," Bill said, shrugging. "Well, some brothers and sisters." 

"So what if Percy's partner in crime is a sister, and not a brother?" Alex asked. 

Bill shrugged. "I reckon they'll still do a lot together, being so close in age. Especially since they'll be the youngest. Mum and Dad have both said they're stopping after this. They reckon seven living here is pushing it as is, and that's even with some magic to hold up the new addition upstairs." 

Charlie nodded. "I think six kids is _plenty_. Since we're the two oldest, we get to take care of the little blighters when Mum and Dad aren't around, after all." 

"Charlie!" Bill said, clearly upset with him. Charlie grimaced. 

"Sorry. You know what I mean. I wasn't--well, you know. Anyway, sorry." He stood and put his cards down on the table. "I think I'll quit while I still have some hair on my head that's not burnt. You blokes have fun, though." 

Jack, who'd known Charlie the longest, other than Bill, laughed knowingly. "You have fun, too, teasing your sister about Alex." Charlie's round freckled face was bisected by his wicked grin. 

"Too right!" he said, before leaving the room. Bill turned to see Alex frowning at his cards while sipping his hot chocolate, as though he was trying to ignore what had just been said. 

"Whose turn is it?" Jack asked, picking up his cards again. 

"Geoff's," Bill said immediately, as the one who kept track of these things. Geoff nodded, staring at his cards, trying to decide what to do. Then he looked up at the wizarding house, at the wireless on the kitchen mantel, blaring Christmas carols, at the pots and pans which were lazily washing themselves in the sink, and at the faces of the other boys around the table, boys who thought he was like _them_, who didn't suspect a thing. They were all _normal_. They didn't have any deep dark secrets that could make them outcasts in wizarding society....How much longer could he scrape by at Hogwarts before they kicked him out? He was lucky Dumbledore had had him Sorted when he'd arrived. Or was he? Perhaps he should have asked to be taken home again (or the caravan that passed for his home), not tried to do everything these boys could do, be what he could never be.... 

"What's wrong, Geoff?" Jack said suddenly, having noticed the boy's lip shaking. Bill scrutinized him; his eyes were glistening as though he was going to burst into tears any moment. 

"I'm going to be kicked out of Hogwarts!" he said suddenly, shocking them all. 

"What?" Bill said, frowning. "Why?" But as soon as he said it, he knew. _I was right_, he thought, but not happily. _Poor Geoff._

Jack was peering in his friend's face as though he'd never seen him before. "Why would you say that, Geoff?" But he flicked his eyes over at Bill, and Bill thought, _He remembers what I said, that I thought he might be--_

"A Squib," Geoff said, as though finishing Bill's thought. "I'm a Squib." He swallowed and looked up at the other boys; only Alex looked shocked, but then, he didn't know Geoff very well. He could tell from Bill and Jack's faces that they'd suspected something before this. "You two knew, didn't you?" 

Bill and Jack looked sheepishly at him. Bill started to say, "Well--yeah. We wondered a little about--" 

"--about why I was so bloody useless with a wand? About why the only classes where I get good marks are the ones that don't really require magic? About why you've never seen me successfully do a spell, or fly a broom?" Bill and Jack nodded grimly, while Alex just continued to look dumbly at him. 

"So," Jack said at last; "why do you say you're being kicked out of Hogwarts? Sprout or Dumbledore tell you not to come back after the holiday?" 

He shook his head. "No; but the work's getting harder now that we're almost half-way through third year. I don't know for how much longer the teachers will let me slide, just writing essays and taking exams and not actually being able to do _magic._ Something has to give, eventually. I mean, how could I possibly hope to pass the O.W.L.s?" 

"Well," Bill said uncertainly, not sure what he was going to say; "you'd probably get one easily in Divination. And Potions. Then there's History of Magic, and Astronomy. That's already four. And probably Muggle Studies and Herbology. That's six. Plenty of people get six; nothing to be ashamed of. Perfectly respectable." 

He shook his head. "If you don't get at least one among Charms, Transfiguration or Defense Against the Dark Arts, you either have to do fifth year over or you just leave the school. I've seen the old school records; I did my research. It doesn't happen often. In the fifties, some bloke who always overslept missed his Dark Arts _and_ his Transfiguration exams, and just wasn't much good at Charms, so he had to do fifth year over. And there was a witch in the sixties who had a rotten memory and failed all three of those exams and didn't want to be a fifth year again, so she left. But they--they were just _lazy_. They _could_ have passed if they'd cared enough. No amount of studying will get me through those tests, or the damn difficult ones we're likely to have at the end of third year, either. It's just going to get worse and worse, harder and harder for me to hide my problem. And it's not like I can just go to a Muggle school if I leave; I might not mind that, actually, if I could go to just _one_. But the way my mum and dad move around, I'd be changing schools every month, if not more often. I _love_ Hogwarts. I've never felt that any place was like home to me until I went there. But it's just a matter of time before I have to leave..." 

There was a catch in his voice, and he wiped impatiently at the tears that started to leak out of his eyes, especially in front of the other boys. Alex looked at Jack and Bill, who had stopped looking shocked and instead looked quite sympathetic. He was the first to speak. 

"How did you get that letter?" Alex asked softly. "Your Hogwarts letter?" 

"It wasn't sent to me by the school," Geoff said, no longer crying. "It was my mum's old letter. I found out last year. I should have known something was up when she said I should make sure I had it with me during the Sorting. No one _else_ had their letter in their pocket, I'm pretty sure. I reckon she put my first name in there in place of hers, so it no longer said 'Bronwen Davies' but 'Geoffrey Davies.' Easier to do than replacing the whole name. She said it was sent to me with that name instead of 'Geoffrey Rottenham' because she and my dad had never married and they assumed at the school that I had my mum's name. She said wizards and Muggles do it differently when two people who aren't married have a kid--wizards give the kid the mum's name." 

Jack frowned. "I never heard that." 

Geoff sighed. "Something _else_ she made up, I reckon. But that's why I sometimes don't answer right away when someone calls me 'Davies.' I'm not used to being called that. Well, I'm getting more used to it, after over two years. But it's still strange to me." 

Alex's eyebrows flew up. "Your mum and dad never married? And she told you like _that_?" 

"What? No, I always knew that." He shrugged. "It was just never important to them. They didn't feel like going through the mess of getting fake papers for my mum, so she could 'exist' in the Muggle world. Said they _felt_ married, and that's all that mattered and the rest of the world could go to hell if they were going to criticize. Besides, we never really lived in one place long enough for people to find out details about my parents, especially about my mum being a witch. They liked it that way. It was just the three of us, on the road, we didn't need nobody else." He sighed and looked down. "Well, they didn't need no one else. I wouldn't have minded a sister or brother, or a mate. Never lived in one place long enough to make friends with someone. And even if I had made a friend, I'd have left him about five minutes later, wouldn't I? Fat lot of good _that_ would do." He looked at the other boys. "You blokes are the first mates I've ever really had." 

It was that that undid Alex. He fought down the lump in his throat and stood up, his face set stubbornly. He didn't know this boy well, but Geoff knew what it felt like to be on the outside looking in, like Alex. He knew what it was like to worry about his deepest darkest secret coming out, and being rejected by the world because of it. 

He knew how Alex felt every day of his life. 

"You're not leaving Hogwarts," Alex said suddenly, surprising them all. They stared at him. Bill frowned; Alex knew that Bill usually liked to be in charge (probably force of habit, as the eldest in a large family). But this time, someone else had spoken first, and he wasn't going to let Bill talk him out of this. 

"What?" was the only response he received; all three boys spoke at once. 

"I said, you are bloody well _not_ going to leave Hogwarts. How do you know you're a Squib? You could still show some magical ability later in your life. You never know. Just because you haven't yet means--means you might be a late bloomer. I heard about this Muggle-born witch who didn't start doing magic until she was thirty. It happens. You want to come back to Hogwarts when you're thirty? Might as well learn now, while you're young, with other witches and wizards your age, and later--when you've started showing some magic--you'll have the education and credentials you need. And you won't have to live in the Muggle world after you finish school, unless you want to, that is." 

"You--you really think I'll turn out to be magical eventually?" 

Alex shrugged. "Even if you aren't--we won't stop being your friends." Jack and Bill agreed loudly, Bill slapping him on the back, making Geoff look sheepish. But then he looked worried again. 

"But--but what if they _make_ me leave? When it becomes painfully clear what I _am_?" 

Alex pounded his palms on the table and leaned forward, peering into the other boys' faces. "_We'll help you stay in school._ When you're in a class where you have to do magic, one of us will help you! We'll give you pre-charmed objects and we'll levitate things from the doorway of the classroom, hidden from the teacher; we'll help you brew potions that will shrink a cat when you're supposed to be doing it with magic--whatever it takes." 

Geoff's jaw dropped. "You mean--you'd help me _cheat_?" 

Alex straightened up and gave him a lop-sided grin. "Yes." He nodded at Bill. "Bill's the best bloke in our year at wandless magic. He can do spells without a lot of wand-waving, so the teachers won't suspect it when he's the one helping you. Jack's in your house, so if Bill or I can't be on hand for a test, Jack will be. And I've seen Muggle magicians do really amazing things with sleight-of-hand. I can read up on how they manage it without doing magic, and then I can teach you, so you can swap a transfigured teapot for the one you were supposed to be doing, and McGonagall won't suspect a thing. You don't have to worry. We're on the job. _No one's_ going to kick you out of Hogwarts." 

Geoff looked stunned. "That--that sounds grand. You'd--you'd all do that?" He noticed that Bill and Jack still looked somewhat surprised by Alex's outburst, and the plan he'd outlined, but they hurriedly agreed. Then Geoff was frowning. "Yeah, the only problem is--I haven't done well at magic up until now. Won't the teachers notice if I'm suddenly a lot better? Won't it look odd?" 

Bill shrugged. "Maybe they'll just reckon you--you had a magical growth spurt. They usually happen when witches and wizards are young, but sometimes they happen later. Peggy's just had one; she can fly a broomstick now. We have a special one Mum and Dad bought for me when I was about four; it can't fly more than a few feet off the ground." 

Geoff sighed. "Even your five-year-old sister can fly a broom and _I_ can't." 

Alex frowned. "Let me work on that. A broom that's responding to someone _else's_ magic that you can _seem_ to be flying. In fact--I'll bet Bill can come up with a charm for that. He's tops in the year in Charms." 

Bill looked bashful now, but also a bit doubtful. "I don't know. That might be a bit beyond me just yet." 

Alex shrugged. "So you have a goal. It's a worthwhile one, don't you think?" 

Bill considered this; the seventh-year boys probably learned a _lot_ of interesting magic to be able to create that map of theirs, and to be able to stay with a werewolf during the full moon without being in danger themselves. Perhaps the most important things you learned in school _weren't_ learned in the classroom. He looked at Geoff. _And maybe the best possible reason to try to learn a bit of complicated magic is to help a friend._

"I'm in," Bill said suddenly, grinning at Geoff. 

"I'm in," echoed Jack, putting his hand on his housemate's shoulder. 

Geoff looked round at them all, clearly moved. He looked as though he couldn't speak for a minute, but he finally said, "You won't be sorry. I promise you." Then he shook his head. "I never thought I'd have any mates at all, let alone the best ones in the world." 

He beamed at the three of them and Alex saw how touched he was, and thought, _Yes. It's the right thing to do. No one should be shut out of the world he was born into just because--because he's different. _

No one. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_Saturday, 31 December, 1977_

Severus Snape's head felt like it was going to explode. He glanced round at the merry crowd of Slytherins around him, as they cut a swath through Diagon Alley on the last day of the year. The world looked a bit bleary to him; he wasn't sure whether that was Narcissa Anderssen walking on his right or Claudine Gaillard. Not too surprising, as he had already had four swigs of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey from someone's hip flask and seemed destined to have one hell of a hangover the next day. 

Gah. Karkaroff was blithering on about something again, his arm thrown around Claudine Gaillard's shoulders. That must mean the one to his right was Anderssen. All of the other seventh-year Slytherins were present as well, having hatched a plan to crash a New Year's Eve party. Severus was starting to doubt the wisdom of coming along on this jaunt, but as he'd had a miserable holiday so far, he had decided that it certainly couldn't get _worse_. 

The first night he'd been back with his uncle, he'd snuck out to a wizarding pub he knew in Dunoon and had sat by himself in the corner, drinking shot after shot of Old Ogden's. The barkeep hadn't questioned him about his age. His Uncle Duncan had come looking for him, somehow suspecting he'd be there, and half-dragged him home. 

"Och, lad, if ye're lewking to git drunk, at least do it at hame," his uncle had chided him. "Then I don't haff t'drag ye back here like the town sot." 

His uncle put him fully clothed into the tub and turned the shower on him full blast, ice cold water striking him like so many needles. He wanted to spring out of it and run, but he couldn't get his arms and legs to work quite properly, and finally he had to just wipe the water from his face and moan, "Enough, already. Stop the damn water." 

"Why should I?' his uncle demanded. 

"Because I'm going to be sick now," he informed his mother's brother, ever dignified, before leaning over the edge of the tub and spewing onto the tiled floor--and his uncle's boots. Duncan MacDermid swore and muttered something under his breath that sounded like, "I shoulda known..." as he cleaned his boots and the floor, leaving Severus in the tub while he did it--but he did finally turn off the water. 

His uncle helped him dry off and get to bed that night, and didn't wake him the next morning. When Severus finally opened his eyes, he felt like a house was sitting on his skull, and who the hell told the sun it could be that bright? Didn't it know it was bleeding December? 

His uncle gave him a hangover remedy when he stumbled into the kitchen at two in the afternoon. Severus gulped it down, even though the first taste was vile; after a little bit, he became accustomed to it, or his taste buds had numbed. That night he drank too much again, after dinner, and sat through the Christmas Eve service in a stupor, the trilling notes of the children's choir sounding warped and misshapen in his abused brain. 

He wasn't sure whether his uncle knew he was drunk again until they reached the flat afterward and Duncan said to him, "Do ye think ye can reach the loo before yer sick this time, lad?" He nodded, holding his hand before his mouth, and sprinted up the steep stairs leading to the flat, then down the corridor. He knelt in front of the toilet, heaving, and when his uncle entered, he vaguely remembered him leaning against the doorway, stroking his beard. 

"Would ye like to taill me why ye suddenly feel the need to be stinkin' drunk all the time, Saiverus? It can't be that ye've gotten in the habit at skewl. They'd naiver allow it. And I think ye'd be exceedin' some kind of spewing quota, as waill," he added with a mischievous grin. His nephew wished he'd managed to be sick on his uncle's boots again. 

When Severus was fairly certain he was done heaving, he leaned heavily against the cold tiled wall and said, "I've lost her." 

"Her? Yer lass? Och, I'm sorry lad. I'd no idea....Whain did she taill ye to bugger off?" 

Severus shook his head. "I did it. I broke up with her." 

"You! But ye're damn miserable, man! Are ye daft? Why the haill'd ye do that?" 

Severus just shook his head, staring at the pattern of the tiles on the floor, unable to explain. His uncle helped him into bed again, this time clucking sympathetically. 

The next evening they'd exchanged perfunctory gifts and eaten their Christmas joint with a remarkable lack of joy. Afterward, his uncle surprised him by pouring him a shot of whiskey. Severus looked up at him, startled. 

"Well, ye've already tried it on yer own. I reckon I ought to teach ye the proper way to drink, oughtn't I? Fairst--ye make sure ye've had a proper meal. I shoulda noticed that ye didn't eat much o' anythin' the last two nights. Saicont--don't go overboard. Ef ye want to drink t' forgait, ye don't need to down the whole bottle, lad." 

Severus nodded and knocked back the shot he'd been poured. He pulled his lips back from his teeth and gasped as it burned his throat, even though he knew he would feel this sensation. His uncle nodded at him. "There. That's enough fer now. Moderation. Yer still probably a wee bit drunk from the last two nights anyway. Gait some raist now, lad. I'll see ye in the mornin', and ye can hailp me in the shop." 

But being in his uncle's apothecary on Boxing Day was a disaster. He was supposed to be overseeing a very delicate beauty potion his uncle was brewing while Duncan went to the front to wait on a customer, and instead he knocked a vial of something--he had no idea what--off a shelf. The vial broke on the edge of the cauldron and some of its contents dripped into the potion. There was an immediate bad reaction. The noise and smell caused his uncle to come running back to the laboratory, where he started swearing at Severus loudly, pointing his wand to clean up the glass shards. Then he looked at his nephew and sighed. 

"Ye're only goin' to be trouble round here, in yer current state, lad. Why don't ye go doon ta Diagon Alley, see whaither ye can meet up with some o'yer mates from skewl." 

Severus looked at him dully. He wanted to say "What mates?" But he could tell that his uncle wanted to get rid of him, so he agreed. 

After stepping out of the fire at the Leaky Cauldron, he had half a mind to just spend the rest of the day drinking there, but he knew that all he'd be able to get out of old Tom was butterbeer; he was under no delusions about Severus' age, as the barkeep at the local pub had been. So he wandered into Diagon Alley, past the shops still bearing their festive holiday decorations, thronged with other Hogwarts students on holiday who were meeting friends for a day out. 

He was gazing into the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies, idly thinking that a new broomstick would be nice but was very unlikely, when Karkaroff had run into him. 

"Snape! You look like hell. Had a rotten Christmas, eh?" 

Severus sneered at him, "Happy Boxing Day to you too, Iggy." 

For once Karkaroff ignored the hated nickname. "I heard about you and Evans. Rotten luck, that. She must have been a good shag, too, am I right?" Severus clenched and unclenched his fists, resisting the urge to smash his arrogant little face in. "I mean," Karkaroff went on, "being dumped by a Mudblood--" 

"She didn't," he said abruptly, setting the record straight. "I'm the one who ended it. She even begged me to take her back." 

"What?" Karkaroff goggled. "I thought someone had said that, but I assumed they'd got it backwards. You really did?" 

Severus tried to shrug nonchalantly. "I grew bored with her. She had her uses, of course," he added, attempting to sound as callous as possible. Karkaroff smirked and nudged him with his elbow. 

"I'll wager she did, I'll just wager she did," he said winking. Severus thought he looked like a fool. "I just--I thought you couldn't be daft enough to send her packing, when, any time you wanted, you had the Head Girl giving you a piece of--" 

"Do you have a point, Karkaroff?" Severus was growing impatient. The smaller boy peered at him, as though assessing his potential. Being observed in this way was making Severus uncomfortable. Finally, the other boy spoke. 

"I'm meeting up with the other seventh-years in about half-an-hour. Slytherins that is, of course. We--we didn't think _you'd_ be interested, what with having a _Gryffindor_ girlfriend and all. But, if she was just a temporary amusement--you're welcome to come along." 

Severus looked at him suspiciously. What was the catch? Well, he thought, only one way to find out. He'd just have to make certain he was on his guard the entire time. 

"Fine," he said, nodding. And so he spent the rest of the holiday meeting up with the other seventh-year Slytherins in Diagon Alley every day. His uncle took heart from this; it seemed that his nephew had friends at last. To his uncle, he pretended to be having a better time than he really was. Severus discovered that he had to withstand a certain amount of vampire ribbing, but he also sent some well-aimed jinxes in the direction of the jokers a few times, causing the others to laugh at them, rather than him. 

"Got you good, Karkaroff!" Diana O'Sullivan had crowed when boils had sprouted on his face. The Slytherins did this with each other all the time; you couldn't turn your back on anyone, or you risked being caught out, the target of a hex. They were all of-age, so they no longer had to worry about doing magic outside of school. 

When, on the thirtieth, Karkaroff had come running into the Leaky Cauldron, where they were having tea laced with the rum from Narcissa Anderssen's delicate ladies' flask, and told them all that some Gryffindors were having a New Year's Eve party they could crash, it seemed like a wonderful prank to play--a gang of Slytherins showing up at a _Gryffindor_ party. Evidently, all of the seventh years who were _not_ in Slytherin had been invited, as well as a number of sixth years from the other (non-Slytherin) houses. Severus looked at his housemates; he could tell that they were all feeling the snub, even though they would have thrown an invitation from a Gryffindor in the host's face. 

"We'll show them what a _real_ party is like, eh, Snape?" Narcissa said to him, a mischievous glint in her eye, as she lifted tea that was probably less tea and more rum to her lips and drank, her eyes boring into his over the edge of the cup. He licked his lips nervously and nodded, his head buzzing. He wasn't certain that he'd been sober for twenty-four hours straight since getting off the train from Hogwarts. 

When, on New Year's eve, Karkaroff had handed him some Floo powder and told him to say, "Ascog Castle!" before stepping into the fire at the Leaky Cauldron, he couldn't help thinking, _That sounds familiar._ But then he was whirling through the Floo network, and before long, he was stumbling out of a large stone fireplace in a rather crowded room where too-loud music was blaring from a Wizarding Wireless, and scattered teacups which were on every horizontal surface. The other Slytherins who'd preceded him were already starting to make the party more "interesting." Someone was levitating a table, delicate bone-china cups skittering across its surface before they crashed to the floor in a heap of shards and dust, and someone else was turning up the wireless to a deafening level, so that it started to make the windows rattle in their frames. Severus shook his head at the juvenile antics, striding from the room, thinking, _I need a drink._

He paused in what appeared to be an entrance hall, narrow and crowded though it was. _This is a castle?_ he thought. If so, it was a small, mean castle. It was certainly no Hogwarts. More like a tower house, he thought. He turned right, walking into a kitchen with a large refectory table and a tapestry on the far wall that bore a prancing lion in blue and silver. _Hmm,_ he thought. _That looks familiar. I should know that...._ But just as he couldn't remember where he'd heard Ascog Castle, he couldn't place the blue-and-silver lion. There were too many people in the house for him to count, the kitchen as crowded as the sitting room, and he couldn't tell who (if anyone) was in charge. Karkaroff had come in here too, looking at Severus with an evil grin as he poured a bottle of something into the punch bowl sitting on the table, which was surrounded by more of the delicate china tea cups. Severus strode over to him and, after seeing Karkaroff help himself to the spiked punch (so he knew that it wasn't something that Karkaroff was avoiding) he ladled some into a cup; as he lifted it to his face, his nose told him before the taste even reached his mouth that it was now adequately alcoholic. 

Karkaroff disappeared. Severus grabbed what seemed to be a ham sandwich from a platter near the punch and wandered from the room. It didn't seem to be a very big house (he was damned if he was going to call the thing a 'castle'). He idly began to climb the winding stone stairs; on each upper level there were two bedrooms, and each one was occupied by a different panting couple, judging from the sounds seeping from the closed doors; the landings were populated by other teenagers waiting their turns, whether for mere snogging or all-out shagging he didn't know and he didn't care. 

On the top floor, he heard the sound of someone retching, and a familiar voice saying soothing words to the sick person. Severus crept closer; the sounds were coming from a bathroom that was reached through one of the bedrooms. Thankfully, this bedroom did not have any rutting teenagers in it, but through the open door of the bath, he saw immediately that it _did_ have-- 

Lily Evans, Sirius Black and James Potter. 

He backed away immediately, before they saw him, ducking behind the door, listening, his heart going very fast. He was still holding a bite of the ham sandwich in one hand, and he stuffed this into his mouth, trying to chew quietly. 

"There, there, Sirius, you're going to be all right," Lily was telling him gently. When he'd glimpsed them briefly through the doorway, he'd seen that Lily was crouched on the floor rubbing Sirius' back, while Black was positioned before the toilet, heaving, and Potter leaned against an adjacent wall, coolly surveying the two while he ate a sandwich. He'd seen that look very quickly, but was it--was he jealous of Lily and _Black_? Could she possibly be getting involved with that bastard? Severus felt a rage well up in him as he considered this. 

"Didn't--know--whether--you--were--coming--" Black choked out. "Waited and waited..." 

"So you sat around all day drinking?" Lily scolded him. 

"I think it's Peter's fault," Potter offered. "He brought some vodka to put in the punch, but I wouldn't let him." Severus smirked; too late, he thought, remembering Karkaroff. That punch was definitely alcoholic _now_. "Remus wouldn't drink any, so Peter dared Sirius to have a shot. And another, and another. I don't know what either one of them was thinking." 

"Well, obviously _not very much_," Lily answered acidly. "I'll have to give Peter a piece of my mind later. I mean, I know Sirius has had alcohol before, but he's obviously not used to _this_ kind of drinking. Did you eat anything at all?" she said, evidently addressing Black. There was a kind of choking sound, and then Severus assumed that Black was heaving into the toilet again. He winced; he'd stopped retching after the third day of his holiday, learning how to drink just enough to anesthetize himself from the pain of not having _her_ any more, but not so much that he was going to be found by his uncle lying face-down in a pile of his own sick. 

"I'm sorry I was so much later than I said I'd be," Lily was saying softly to him. Severus' heart ached, hearing her speaking so gently to the boy who'd tried to kill him. Somehow, he still felt that that gentle tone of voice belonged to _him_, that _he_ was the only one who deserved to have her speaking to him that way.... 

"Are you going to be much longer?" Potter asked. Severus wasn't sure whether he was speaking to his best friend or Lily or both. He sounded irked and impatient. 

"Why?" Lily asked, sounded irked herself. 

"I heard some--some people who weren't invited might try to crash the party and thought I'd check around to make sure no one had. We also need to make sure everyone's out of the house and everything cleaned up by the time your parents and sisters are back, Sirius, and you're clearly not going to be in any condition to help us with that." Ah, it was Black and Potter's party. Severus was fascinated; Potter sounded more than a little put-out by his friend. Were the perfect Gryffindors having problems? 

Severus crept away from the room before Potter discovered him; he went back down the curving stairs, not pausing on the ground floor landing. He just continued down, down, until he found himself in the dungeons. _Hmph. Dungeons,_ he thought. _Maybe it is a castle after all. Of a sort._ He wandered down a torch-lit corridor, hearing familiar voices and laughter ahead of him. The Slytherins had gravitated to their customary territory, the dungeons, and made their own party, evidently. 

He was shocked when he entered a room with a large pool and a sky that looked like the night sky outdoors, glittering with stars. There were also some torches around the room, lending a flickering, other-worldly radiance to the space, the flames reflecting from the shivering surface of the large pool. Severus whirled, thinking he heard something behind him, but all he could see was a shuddering shrub, part of the mural lining the room. There seemed to be numerous night-sounds and murmurs coming from the mural of a garden; he wasn't sure he liked this. It made him nervous. And then he became even more nervous when he realized that the bodies swimming in the pool weren't wearing anything; boys and girls alike, his fellow Slytherins had stripped and jumped into the pool, splashing and laughing, shining breasts and shoulders and buttocks making him swallow and hesitate on the threshold. Narcissa Anderssen swam up to the edge closest to where he was standing, her long blonde hair clinging sleekly to her head, making her sharp cheekbones and nose stand out even more than usual. 

"Coming in, Snape?" she asked slyly. "Show us what you've got," she added with a laugh, throwing herself backwards into the water, floating on the surface for a moment, showing him--everything _she_ had. _Gah._ All of them were in there, he could see. Every one. If he didn't do this--he'd just be a laughing stock again. He hesitated for a moment, then turned away to remove his robes and other clothing, trying to ignore some of the girls whistling behind him. _It's just swimming,_ he told himself. He turned quickly, before anyone could get a good look at him, and jumped into the water, narrowly missing a lip-locked couple. When he surfaced, pushing his hair out of his eyes, he saw that the couple was a pair of boys, and some of the girls were watching them with admiration. He found himself staring at the girls, instead, wondering what about this fascinated them so, since they were clearly not being welcomed. 

Then, before he knew what was happening, a soft, feminine body was pressing up against his back, breasts crushed against him, long legs wrapping around his waist, making him gasp. He pulled away and turned around to find out who it was. 

Narcissa Anderssen. 

He swallowed. "I--I thought you had a boyfriend. Malfoy," he said quietly. He knew this was a rather stupid thing to say when you are in pool with a girl and neither of you has anything on, but it was all he could think of. 

She shrugged. "So what? What he doesn't know--can't hurt _you_. The bastard had to be somewhere else tonight, if you can believe it. Business, he called it. If he's going to leave me stranded on New Year's Eve, I think I deserve to have a little fun on my own, don't you?" 

As she spoke she slid her slippery arms up around his neck, her fingers twining in his wet hair, and pulled his face down to hers; she deliberately pushed her stomach against his, making him jump from the contact. He knew she could feel the purely physical effect she was having on him; she smiled against his mouth as she kissed him. He tasted the alcohol she'd had on her tongue. Then she reached down and wrapped her hand around him, and he moaned into her mouth for a moment before breaking the kiss and pulling her hand away. 

"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded, looking around tentatively at the other Slytherins. But he didn't have the audience he'd feared; the others were quite preoccupied with similar pursuits. Two of the girls were being surveyed by Karkaroff now, who seemed to be quite enjoying what they were doing to each other, and other couples, both mixed-gender and same-gender, were engaged in various sex-acts and near sex-acts that were making Severus more and more nervous. He turned back to Narcissa, raking his eyes over her exposed body, surprised to find the thought _Why not?_ in his brain. But--he didn't want spectators. 

"Not here," he told her tersely. She smiled wantonly. 

"All right. Follow me." 

She climbed out of the pool, and, hesitating for a moment, he followed her, but no one seemed to be watching, so he didn't have to worry about feeling odd walking about in front of the others with nothing on. Narcissa certainly didn't seem to have a self-conscious bone in her body as she walked before him, her hips swaying, her wet skin glistening in the torchlight. She led him to an adjacent room; as soon as he closed the door behind them, she was all over him, and he allowed himself to lose himself in her, to find forgetfulness in her body. He'd never known that the other Slytherins did things like this, went skinny-dipping and had what amounted to orgies....He probably should have known, but he was so on the fringes, and it had never occurred to him. Or was this a special occasion? 

She pulled away from him, watching him from under her lashes, a smile curling at the corner of her mouth. "Evans wasn't making things up, obviously. Pity she left you." 

"I left her," he growled, irritated. Why didn't she shut up and just get to it? 

She traced her finger down his left arm, humming to herself, as though he hadn't said anything. "I see you don't have it yet," she said, tapping the skin just below the crook of his elbow. 

"Have what?" he said, before taking her breast in his mouth. She gasped, holding his head in place. "The Mark. Didn't you see Igor's? I think Lucius' is very sexy. I can talk to him about you, if you like. Put in a good word. He doesn't want me to get it. He says I can serve the Dark Lord by serving _him_. Get it? _Serve_?" She waited for a reaction; Severus moved his mouth up to her neck and put his hands under her bottom, lifting her up. How did she go on chattering while he was moving his hands and mouth over her? Was she not noticing? "It's meant to be a double entendre," she went on. "_Serve._ Get it?" 

"You mean sex. I get it," he snapped at her. "Speaking of which--" he said, lifting her higher, with a grunt. 

And then he had her up against the wall, her legs wrapped around him, her arms around his neck, while he thrust up into her, and she stopped talking about Lucius Malfoy and Marks and instead whispered throatily into his ear, "_Bite me._" 

He was momentarily distracted again, which he did not appreciate. Was she ever going to shut up? "What?" he spat. 

"Bite me. I have--a vampire fantasy I want you to fulfill--" 

He thought he heard some muffled shouting from the pool room. _They must really be going at it in there,_ he thought. He froze, staring at her, an evil light in her eyes, and he saw that she was looking over his shoulder, not at him, and he thought he felt a breeze on his back. _Has someone opened the door?_ he wondered. Then he heard an inarticulate cry and two sets of footsteps running from the room. He turned, but saw no one, and she turned his head back to her with her hand on his jaw. 

"Finish what you started," she breathed. "I'll go first, if you like." 

"What?" he said again, his head thrumming, wondering who had run out of the room. 

"With the biting. I'll bite you first." 

He decided to shut her up once and for all by clamping his mouth over hers, then resumed his previous activity, but when he was close he finally did what she wanted, and brought his mouth down on her neck, biting. At first, his teeth weren't quite sharp enough to do more than bruise her, but then one of his canines did manage to break the skin ever so slightly, and he tasted some coppery blood on his tongue. When she realized that he'd succeeded in biting her, she shuddered in ecstasy just before he stopped, unfulfilled, feeling like he was going to be ill. He pulled away from her, wishing he was anywhere else on the planet. She leaned against the wall, her chest heaving, looking like he had given her just what she'd wanted. He shook his head. _Malfoy can have her,_ he thought. _Twisted bitch._

He strode from the room, without a word to her, and she _laughed_, the sound echoing in the underground cavern. He was surprised to find the pool empty; he threw on his clothes and left the dungeons as quickly as he could, then made his way through the bodies in the sitting room, going back to the fire. He threw some Floo Powder into the flames and, just as he was whirling out of sight, he saw James Potter and Sirius Black come running at the fire, screaming, "_Snape, you bastard!_" 

And then they were gone, and he was whirling his way home, home to the depressing flat above the apothecary, home to his uncle, who would never know how he had debauched himself and how ashamed he felt. Worst of all-- 

He knew that he was still in love with Lily. And there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_Friday, 10 February, 1978_

Lily paced her room. She had to break it to him gently. She had to explain to him that she only thought of him as a friend and didn't want him to be more without him giving her that _look_ she knew so well, the look that could make her lose her resolve and say the opposite of how she felt, just to spare his feelings. 

_No._ No chickening out, she told herself sternly. You can do this. 

She thought back to the New Year's Eve Party, and the planning for it. They'd thought of it on Boxing Day. Or rather, Sirius had remembered that his parents and older sisters and their husbands were all invited to a party on New Year's Eve, and that he and James would have the house to themselves. "And the great thing is, we haven't any servants, not even house-elves. And no wizarding neighbors, just Muggles miles away who don't even know this is a _house_, and not a ruin. No one to tell! We can invite all of the seventh-years--well, maybe all of the seventh-years except the Slytherins. Of course, that's only about thirty people. All right, the sixth-years who aren't Slytherins, too..." 

Lily frowned. "As much as I admire your mother for doing her own housework and not using house-elves, that also means that you don't have any help getting ready for a party. You can't just do this with no planning. You need to have food and drink, and--" 

"Drink! Excellent. All right, we'll need some whiskey, some vodka, some gin--" 

"_I meant_," Lily said loudly, "punch or egg nog or butterbeer. Something like that. _No alcohol._" Sirius pleaded with her with his eyes. That usually worked. But not this time. "No. Absolutely not. And I expect you to back me up on this, James." 

James saluted her as though she was a general. "Right. No alcohol." Sirius scowled at the pair of them. 

"Aw, having the Head Girl and Head Boy help me plan this party is _no fun at all..._" 

But actually, it had been. They'd planned it completely in a couple of days, and sent out the invitations using post owls from the post office in Diagon Alley. Lily was glad to have something to do to keep busy, and something to look forward to. It helped keep her mind off Severus. Most of the time. 

Then, on the day of the party, she'd very nearly forgotten that her mother was supposed to have some tests that day, to ascertain whether she was still in remission. Lily had had to sit in the hospital lounge for hours with Petunia and Vernon and her father, all pretending to be civil to each other. Because of the holiday, there was a shortage of people working in the lab, processing the results, and the time seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Lily had checked her watch repeatedly, very impatient. She had told Sirius and James she would come and help them get ready at noon; although his family would still be there, they could surreptitiously work on making sandwiches in the guest room where Lily would spend the night. 

Instead, she didn't show up until after seven. She and her parents finally returned home at six, and then she had to change her clothes and tell her parents where she was going (the Leaky Cauldron, which wasn't completely untrue). When she finally stumbled out of the fireplace at Ascog Castle, the party was in full swing and she couldn't find Sirius and James anywhere. 

She shouldered her way through the crowd, hanging her robes in the entrance hall, she'd worn them over her jeans and cardigan in order not to look out of place in the Leaky Cauldron. She climbed the stairs, hearing what was going on behind the bedroom doors as she ascended through the house, wondering where on earth James and Sirius could be. 

She finally found them in their en suite bath. Sirius was getting sick into the toilet while James stood nearby, looking strangely unsympathetic, and oddly enough, managing somehow to eat a sandwich while Sirius was ejecting the contents of his stomach. When James looked up and saw her, however, he stepped forward, grinning, saying her name affectionately and hugging her tightly. She held him close to her for an agonizing half minute, before stepping back nervously. 

"What's going on? What's wrong with Sirius?" 

James looked at her grimly. "He's pissed. Three sheets to the wind." 

She rounded on him, crouched on the floor as he was. "Sirius! I thought we'd agreed, no alcohol! Oh, never mind...." she amended herself, crouching down next to him and putting her hand on his sweating brow. He was the color of parchment, and looked mortally embarrassed for her to see him in this state, but very quickly, he had no choice but to thrust his head over the commode again. 

Lily wasn't sure how long this went on. Sirius would stop for a while, sitting back on his haunches, talking to her, trying to make jokes about his condition, then he would start looking green around the edges and lunge for the toilet again. Lily never left his side, and they shooed numerous amorous couples away from their bedroom, sending them off grumbling. _We planned this party,_ thought Lily with worry, thinking of Sirius' family returning home after their own party; _and who knows what all of these people are even doing to the house? We haven't been downstairs in hours, they might have dismantled all the furniture, or transfigured it into farm animals..._

Remus showed up at one point, saying, "_There_ you all are," but he immediately turned green and had to leave; he couldn't be around someone spewing without wanting to do it himself. Peter showed up after that, also clearly inebriated, but not as bad as Sirius, and when Lily immediately started yelling at him, he ran off. 

When Sirius finally seemed to be all right, they tucked him into bed. Lily kissed his brow tenderly, and he grasped her hand briefly, his eyes boring into hers. "Thank you, Lily," he rasped, before letting her go. She nodded grimly and left the room with James. She checked her watch; eleven-thirty. They found Remus and Peter, but only Remus was still conscious. With his help, they rousted the couples out of the bedrooms and worked their way downstairs. In the kitchen, they discovered the spiked punch and dumped in the sink. Each taking a room, they waved their wands, repairing and cleaning things as they went, to make less work later. Then a sixth-year girl from Ravenclaw grabbed Lily's arm in the entrance hall and said, "A Slytherin spiked the punch. I saw him and the other Slytherins show up, but no one knew where you and Potter were," she said suggestively, looking at the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. 

"Where are they now?" James demanded, appearing at Lily's elbow. The sixth-year pointed at the stairs to the dungeons. "They went down there." 

James and Lily hurried down the stairs, and once they were in the corridor, they immediately heard the echoes of the Slytherins coming from the pool room. They ran forward, wands out and at the ready, and Lily thought, _I should have known something like this would happen..._

When they reached the pool room, she couldn't believe her eyes. James gasped and immediately spun her around. She shook him off, irritated. 

"For pete's sake, James, I'm not a child!" She turned round and started shooting sparks at the pairs and trios of Slytherins in various combinations around the room, making them spring apart. When they saw that it was the Head Girl and Head Boy interrupting them, they merely laughed. "Get out!" Lily cried, her voice echoing against the walls and ceiling. "All of you! Party crashers!" She was furious, and all they did was slowly and lazily start to move apart and find their clothes. 

James tried not to stare at the girls, especially as they were Slytherins, but he'd never seen so many nude people in one place at one time. He noticed Lily giving him a sideways glance with her eyebrow raised, and he cleared his throat, sending sparks up to the ceiling. 

"Faster! Now! You are uninvited guests! Get the hell out of here!" 

Finally, they were dressed, still moving at their own leisurely pace. As they were leaving, Karkaroff leered at Lily. "There's still two more in there," he said, pointing with his thumb at the changing room door. James and Lily moved toward the door and she opened it, immediately wishing she could wipe the memory from her brain. 

_He_ was in there, with nothing on, and he had Narcissa Anderssen up against a wall, her legs wrapped around his waist as he moved within her, his sleek black hair touching his shoulders, shivering with each thrust. Lily gasped, and Narcissa caught her eye over his shoulder, a knowing smile on her face, one of her generous breasts just visible past his muscular arm. There was no mistaking who was shagging her; Lily had come to know his body very well. 

With a cry, she ran from the room. James Potter stood frozen for a second, still watching them, but then he realized that he should go after Lily. She was probably devastated. _Slytherin bastard,_ he thought, not for the first time. He chased her up to the entrance hall, then up to the next landing; he turned her to face him. "Lily! Lily, say something!" He looked in her face, worried. She seemed distant, disconnected from the world. 

"He always told me he hated her," she finally said softly at last. "That he didn't think she was the least bit attractive," she continued, her voice oddly high-pitched. She seemed to be looking at some distant point that he couldn't see. Sirius stumbled down the stairs, running his hand through his hair. James was momentarily distracted by this. 

"Sirius! What are you doing out of bed?" 

Sirius yawned and stretched. "Not tired. Feeling much better. Brushed my teeth and everything. See?" he said displaying his scrubbed dental work. "Didn't want to have bad breath at midnight, you know. No one would want to kiss me." 

James rolled his eyes. "I don't give a damn if anyone wants to kiss you. We just found Snape in the changing room next to the pool, shagging Anderssen." 

"We?" Sirius frowned. 

James gestured with his head at Lily. "_We._" 

Then Sirius saw the zombie-like state that Lily was in and he realized, even through his haze, what James meant. 

"Where the hell is he?" Sirius growled. 

"You sit here and wait for us, Lily," James said gently, helping her down onto one of the steps. We'll be right back." 

They hurried down the stairs, seeing Snape entering the sitting room when they were still half a flight up from the bottom. They practically leapt to the floor of the entrance hall, but when they entered the sitting room, the jostling bodies got in their way, and they had trouble forcing their way across the room. Just as Severus Snape was stepping into the green flames, they lunged at him, both crying out, "_Snape, you bastard!_" before he was whisked away. James checked his watch, his chest heaving. It was only three minutes before midnight. He and Sirius left the room again, going back up the stairs, finding Lily looking oddly composed, gazing out the window that looked onto the courtyard. She seemed to be staring up at the stars. 

"It's almost midnight," she said quietly, as though she hadn't seen her former boyfriend shagging another girl. The boys came and stood on either side of her, also looking out the window. Then, suddenly, color blossomed in the sky, like exotic flowers, and Lily said, "Oh! They're setting off fireworks over the port. It must be midnight. Happy new year." 

"Happy new year," Sirius whispered to her. The strains of _Auld Lang Syne_ drifted up the stairs from the party guests one flight down. She looked up at him and he leaned down, brushing his lips against hers briefly. As he pulled away she saw a look in his dark eyes that made her catch her breath. 

"Happy new year, Lily," James said now. She turned to him, trying to discern the expression behind his blue eyes. 

"Happy new year, James." She stood on her toes and brushed her lips lightly against his. He seemed momentarily startled, then met the pressure briefly, before straightening up again. 

She looked out the window once more. It was as though Severus was dead to her. But now....Now she had to deal with Sirius and James. She looked up at each of them, her heart racing within her, wondering what was happening.... 

After they'd rousted all of the guests out of the house at one o'clock and put things back the way they'd been, they'd climbed wearily to the top floor and bade each other good night. Lily hadn't really thought to bring anything in which to sleep, so she simply climbed into the bed in the guest room in her underwear, wondering what she would do if one of the boys came into her bedroom during the night. She lay on her side, facing the door, wondering who she would _prefer_ to come in, if one of them were to do that. She didn't have any idea. She hadn't expected to fall for Sirius all over again. He'd been an unexpected revelation during the holiday, warm and friendly, hugging her each time he greeted her or said goodbye to her. And then he had been drinking because he was uncertain whether she was coming to the party, and when she'd arrived to find him terribly sick from that, he seemed to _need_ her so, and something in her responded to that...What was going on here? she had wondered. She'd meant what she'd said to Sirius; being with someone like James so young was frightening, scarily _permanent_. Sirius gave off an aura of fun, of carefree adventure. Perhaps that's what she still needed--one last chance to be young and _alive._

Lily was still unsure how she felt when they returned to school; she was glad she'd told both boys that she didn't want to have a boyfriend for a while, especially as she was feeling incredibly torn. Sirius seemed to have turned over a new leaf; he was finishing his homework without being prodded, running errands for Lily in the castle, and generally being helpful and attentive. On the other hand, he and James didn't seem to be getting along. She remembered James staying in the bathroom with them when Sirius was sick. Had he been chaperoning them? she wondered. Strange time to feel threatened, she thought. She still hadn't been able to work out how he had been able to _eat_ while Sirius was spewing his guts out. 

As time went on, Sirius became more and more tempting, and she tried to work out _what_ was so tempting about him. She finally realized that no one would mistake Sirius for a boy you don't break up with, a man you marry, as she'd described James. _That's it,_ she decided. _I'm just scared. But who wouldn't be? I'm young. Maybe at this age I should be with the 'fun' boy, instead of in a 'serious' relationship_. She no longer cared about him trying to hurt Severus, not after seeing him with Narcissa.... 

But then she remembered Severus breaking up with her, and remembered how it felt when she saw him with that Slytherin slut; she realized that the very same thing could happen to her and Sirius. And worst of all, in addition to putting herself through all that again, she would be essentially saying to James, "Oh, can you just wait a bit while I dally with your best friend? I have some more wild oats to sow. But I'll be with you presently. You're next on the list." Yes, he'd really go for _that_. 

Finally, just after the beginning of February, they confronted her in the corridor, after Transfiguration, when the other students had already gone ahead of them to the Great Hall, for lunch. 

"Lily," Sirius had said, looking very nervous. "Do you--do you like us both?" 

She looked back and forth between the two of them. "Oh, of course I do!" 

James looked at her levelly. "No, not in general. As--as a potential boyfriend," he finished quietly. 

"Which I know you don't want yet," Sirius said hurriedly, looking sideways at James. "You said you wanted to wait and all--" 

"--but it feels a bit as if you're--we--well, like--" James struggled. 

"It feels like I've been leading on the pair of you," she finished for him. James grimaced, his expression confirming what she'd said. She sighed. She had hoped to have more time to work out her feelings. She had looked back and forth between the two of them, finding so many good points in each of them that she didn't know what she thought any more. 

"Well," James suggested, "maybe you should go out with each of us. Go on the sleigh ride with Sirius this Saturday, and with me next Saturday." To alleviate the students' restlessness, especially as there were no Hogsmeade weekends still, Dumbledore and McGonagall had transfigured the horseless carriages into horseless sleighs, and there had been sleigh rides across the large castle grounds each Saturday since the new year. 

She nodded. "All right. That makes sense." She looked back and forth between them. "I may--I may just decide to remain friends with you both. Can you each handle that?" She looked in their eyes anxiously. They glanced at each other for a moment before nodding. 

She'd had an odd feeling in her chest when she left James sitting in the Gryffindor common room, reading, to go on the sleigh ride with Sirius. Sirius led her out of the portrait hole, and she looked over her shoulder at James, whose eyes met hers and didn't leave them. Then Sirius was pulling her into the corridor, and she immediately felt, somehow, that this was wrong, that she shouldn't have agreed to it. 

Sirius' arms were warm around her inside the sleigh, as it _whooshed_ across the grounds amidst the other sleighs, bells jingling. She'd been in a real horse-drawn sleigh when she was younger, and it was very odd not to see a team before them, prancing through the snow. She tried to start conversations as they rode, but they always seemed to peter out. At one point, Sirius turned to her and lowered his mouth to hers; she lifted her head to meet him, trying not to think of the kiss in fourth year. This one was a nice enough kiss, as he wasn't being presumptuous, but she ended up feeling that it was very mechanical, very calculated. She pulled away first, putting her head on his shoulder, sensing his disappointment. There was no spark, no urge in her to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him madly. Her heart ached within her. _Oh, James,_ she thought. _I wish you were here...._

She avoided Sirius in the week after their sleigh ride, but finally, the day before she was to go on the sleigh ride with James, she felt she could avoid him no longer. She had to tell him. He had to know. She stopped pacing her room and squared her shoulders. She knew what she wanted at last. She didn't just want a good time; she also wanted stability and love and a future. At night, when she closed her eyes, she saw a face in her dreams, and it was the face of the man, she now admitted freely to herself, whom she loved. 

James Potter. 

Putting her hand on the knob, she opened the door, stopping short when she saw Sirius standing there. "Oh! Sirius! What--what are you--" 

He strode impatiently into the room. "You said you had something to tell me, Lily," he said hopefully. She could tell that he thought she'd picked him, and that she wanted to talk to him before her sleigh ride with James so that he'd know he had nothing to fear, that she was just going through the motions. She ached inside; she didn't want to hurt him, not really. She just--didn't want to be with him, either. 

The words spilled out of her in a rush. He listened silently, a spark going out of his eyes as he began to understand the meaning of her words. He nodded when she was done, then leaned forward to kiss her cheek. 

"I meant what I said before, Lily. James is the best. So I suppose you decided that you agree with that." Her stomach dropped at the tone in his voice. She'd hurt him. 

"Sirius!" she said softly as he turned and left. She stared at the closed door, sighing. Finally, she went downstairs to the common room; Sirius wasn't there, but James was sitting before the fire. He sat up attentively when he saw her and she walked over to him. 

"Did he tell you?" she asked, wondering. James shook his head. 

"Tell me what? Do you mean Sirius? He came down from your dorm, and then went up to ours. Didn't say a word." 

She sat in one of the other armchairs and looked at James very seriously. "I--I told him that I only think of him as a friend, and that I can't imagine thinking of him as more." 

James looked at the fire again and nodded, swallowing. "Okay. That explains it," he said softly. Why doesn't he look happier about this? she wondered. You'd think he--but wait, she thought. What if he's changed his mind and doesn't want me anymore? She thought about Sirius. Would she tell him she'd changed her mind? No, she decided it was better to be alone. She'd already done that with Remus and Severus, run to the second when the first rejected her. That was the sort of mess she'd been hoping to avoid this time around. She sighed and rose. _The best laid plans..._

"Anyway," she said quietly. "I thought you should know." James looked up at her dispassionately again. She felt her heart constrict. _Has he decided he doesn't want me just as I decide I do want him?_ She went up to her dorm before she began to cry. And in the morning, they were supposed to go on their sleigh ride together. He would have to tolerate her presence the entire time, obviously wanting no part of this. Brilliant. 

He watched her go, thinking, _That's it, then. She doesn't want either one of us._

He'd listened to her words about Sirius, hearing, _I don't want either of you. I just want you both to be friends._ She was just trying to be nice, telling him what she told Sirius, but not saying, _Do you get the hint? I don't want to be with you either._ He stared at the jumping flames. _I never should have gotten my hopes up,_ he thought. There aren't exactly dozens of girls trying to get me to date them, after all. Sirius is usually dripping with girls. (The fact that he'd been with _no one_ since the new term had begun was a detail that had not gone unnoticed by the female population of Hogwarts.) But me? I had Bonnie, and that didn't exactly go swimmingly. In fact, Lily probably doesn't want to be with me because of what I told her about me and Bonnie. Fabulous. 

He was feeling now that everything he'd gone through in the last month had been for nothing. Unbeknownst to Lily, he and Sirius had been spending a huge amount of time together, but it was because their chief goal was to make sure neither of them had any time alone with Lily. He'd been watching his best friend during the holiday, the best friend who had told him that he'd told Lily how wonderful James Potter was. Now he wondered whether Lily had ended up thinking that he couldn't speak for himself.... 

On New Year's Eve, after they'd said goodnight to her, they'd gone to their own room, and James didn't sleep until nearly four in the morning, because he was lying awake, forcing himself not to sleep, so that he would be able to hear if Sirius left the room. Sirius' breathing sounded strange, and he suspected that his friend was doing the very same thing, listening and waiting for James to make a move. 

He wondered whether she was trying to get out of the sleigh ride with him tomorrow; that must be why she came downstairs, explaining to him what she'd said to Sirius, as though she was talking to a four-year-old, saying, _Do you get it yet? What I'm saying is I don't want you either._

He eventually fell asleep in the chair, and didn't wake until he heard footsteps on the stairs. He rubbed his eyes under his glasses and tried to open them. He thought he might be dreaming; Lily had come down the stairs from the girls' dorm, her dressing gown over her nightdress; she went to sit on the window seat past the tables where they did their schoolwork and played games, watching a new fall of snow cover the grounds. She pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. 

She smiled at the falling snow. She'd dreamt that it had snowed, and James was in her dream, smiling at her. Suddenly, her fears and doubts had dropped away, and she knew somehow that it was all going to be all right. She loved watching falling snow, and decided to come down to the common room to get a better view. 

James tried to figure out whether he could leave without her hearing him, but the second he moved, the frame of the chair creaked, and she turned her head in surprise. "Oh, James! Are you still up? Well, I should talk. I couldn't sleep. I'm so excited about tomorrow. And look! We have a fresh snow for our sleigh ride together." 

She smiled at him and he was shocked to see the love in her eyes. What was going on? he wondered. She turned back to the window, hugging her legs to her chest, a small smile on her lips as she watched the gently falling snow. He rose and walked to her, trying to work it all out. "But--but you said--" he stammered. "You said that you talked to Sirius and told him you just want to be friends." 

She turned to him, her brow furrowed. "Yes. I did." 

"But--but I thought that you meant--you meant to say, without saying it, that--that you felt the same way about me. That I didn't have a chance." His head was spinning. Surely he couldn't have been wrong? The opposite was too much to hope for.... 

Now she looked even more puzzled. "Why would you think that? I'd have said, if that's what I meant." 

And then suddenly the full meaning of her words washed over him. "You mean--you mean--" 

She grinned at him now, swinging her legs down to the floor. "_That's_ why you seemed so odd when I told you. I thought that was a rather funny way of being happy." 

He shook his head, feeling incredibly thick. "You weren't just trying to spare my feelings. You were--" 

"I was being incredibly shy about--about saying that I'm very much looking forward to going on this sleigh ride with you tomorrow. And many more," she added softly, standing and walking toward him. She put her hands on his arms tentatively, but soon there was no hesitation from either one of them; his arms went around her slim waist and she slid her hands up behind his neck. When his lips touched hers she had most intense feeling of coming home, of knowing where she belonged in the world, of _fitting_ in a way she never had before. He deepened the kiss, holding her face up to him now, and she pressed against him, wondering how they had stayed apart for so long, but remembering how she had feared losing him as a friend. Somehow, that fear seemed stupid and inconsequential now, as he drank her in and she gave up all of her previous resistance. _James._ She was with James at last, and nothing had ever felt so right. 

They broke the kiss at the same time and looked in each other's eyes, seeing the same love there. He leaned over and kissed her on the nose, and she smiled before twining her fingers in his and leading him back to the window seat. 

"Watch the snow with me," she whispered. 

They sat together, Lily leaning on James' chest, his arms around her and his cheek on her hair, as they gazed out the window at the crystalline miracles covering everything in sight, making the world new and clean and perfect. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~~~~~~~ 

Thanks to everyone who commented on Chapter Seven! 

* * *

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	10. The Prophecy

**Title:** The Lost Generation (1975-1982) (10/20)  
**Author name:** Barb  
**Author email:** psychic_serpent@yahoo.com  
**Category:** Mystery  
**Sub Category:** Romance  
**Keywords:** MWPP Lily Snape Bill Weasley  
**Rating:** R  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA, Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent, Harry Potter and the Time of Good Intentions  
**Summary:** Bill Weasley begins his education at Hogwarts in 1975, in the middle of Voldemort's reign of terror. He never suspects that the Gryffindor prefects he looks up to, Lily Evans and James Potter, will eventually have a son who saves the wizarding world, nor that the Weasley family will eventually play an important role in the Dark Lord's fall. All he knows is that in a very scary wizarding world, Hogwarts is a safe haven where he has always longed to be--until, that is, there are whispers of vampires and werewolves, of Death Eaters and traitors, and a Seeress pronounces a Prophecy which will shake the wizarding world to its very foundations....  
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.   
**Author notes:** Please bear in mind that this was started quite a while before Rowling's _Order of the Phoenix_ was released, and does not necessarily take anything into account that appears in that book. This is designed to be a prequel to _Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent_, which follows on the heels of _Goblet of Fire_ and also does not take into account anything that appears in _Order of the Phoenix_.  


* * *

**The Lost Generation**

(1975-1982)

Chapter Ten

** The Prophecy**

  
  
  


_Saturday, 11 February, 1978_

Lily opened her eyes suddenly. 

_Where am I?_

Then she remembered; she was in the common room, sitting on the window seat with James, watching the snow. But she hadn't been watching for some time; she'd fallen asleep in his arms. _What is this--the third time?_ she wondered, thinking of taking him up to her bed after Bonnie had died, and falling asleep on the train, after crying on him. _It was nice to sleep with James,_ she thought. And although she really was thinking literally of _sleeping_, this made her think of what people usually meant when they spoke of people sleeping together, and she felt a shiver run through her. It was both _odd_ to consider James that way, after so many years, and something that quickened her pulse, too. She turned her head just a little, to see if he was still asleep, and found him watching her lovingly, his blue eyes dark in the dimness of the pre-dawn, his pupils enlarged to the point where it seemed they were the same color as Severus' or Sirius'. 

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," he whispered to her, kissing her brow. 

She smiled up at him. "Trying to make me conceited? If I'm 'Sleeping Beauty,' we'll have to start calling Cecilia 'Queen of the Universe.'" 

He shook his head. "Nah. She can't compare to you." 

Lily grinned. "I think you may be biased." 

His arms tightened around her. "Yes and no. I'm biased in your favor on any number of things you want to name. But I contend that this opinion is a fair and objective assessment." 

She turned to face him, putting her hand on his cheek. "You're such a sweet-talker, it's a wonder you haven't had even more girlfriends than Sirius." 

He moved his face closer to hers. "I'm more selective than Sirius," he whispered a millimeter from her lips, before brushing his mouth against hers; her lips felt even more sensitive than usual, and she slowly opened them very slightly, feeling him do the same. His tongue slowly traced her lips, making a tremor shiver through her, and finally, she couldn't stand the teasing any more and opened her mouth wider, tilting her head to the right, her lips meeting his fully and their breaths co-mingled in what was now one cavity... 

James couldn't believe this was happening. This was Lily, kissing him passionately, returning his feelings, all of it. He remembered when he'd seen her on the hearth rug with Remus in fifth year, the way she'd thrown back her head in rapture, the sounds she'd made.... 

He drank her in, his hands laced in her hair to hold her head in place. At length, he drew back, kissing her lips tenderly and repeatedly as he did so, then trailing small kisses down her chin, under her chin, down that long column of white neck, into the V of her nightdress.... 

Lily's breath hitched as his lips slid along her skin. She turned her head, finding his ear right near her mouth, so she breathed warmly into it, feeling the jolt move through him, making her feel--wonderful. 

_James James James._

She ached for him. She had had no trouble waiting for him; was it almost two months since she had last been with Severus? More like three, she thought, as they hadn't slept together during the last month before he broke up with her. It might even have been four. She hadn't kept track, and she hadn't missed it, but suddenly, being with James like this...This was entirely different. There was always a certain element of _guilt_ involved with Severus. He was a Slytherin. Her friends all hated him, and he hated them. And the times with Remus had, if possible, been worse; furtive and sometimes bordering on violent, never spoken of, a liaison never acknowledged. 

She found his left hand and moved her fingers in his palm, then over the back, tracing over the skin, again and again, hearing a small groan in his throat in reaction to the sensation, even as he lavished more attention on her neck. Finally, getting up her nerve, she guided the hand to her chest and placed it gently over her right breast. 

He froze for a second, feeling what she'd done, but he went on sucking on her neck, and now he also cupped her breast carefully through the fabric, moving his thumb slowly, feeling the tip harden under the repeated strokes, feeling her push her breast into his palm... 

Lily gasped, wondering whether their relationship was going to see the quickest consummation in Hogwarts history. _We're not even going on our "date" until later,_ she thought. _Although,_ she remembered ruefully, _Remus and I never went on any dates at all..._

He switched hands, and now her left breast was being held and caressed tenderly through her nightdress. She drew his mouth to hers again, and he didn't protest. They drank each other in greedily, having waited almost seven years for each other. His left hand found her foot, then her calf, then he was drawing a soft line up her thigh, and her chest hitched with anticipation, but he merely continued to caress the soft skin on her thighs, over and over, until she thought she'd melt into a puddle from wanting him so much.... 

"James? Lily?" 

They both jumped, and James fell backward off the window seat, onto the hard floor. They both looked up, finding Sirius standing at the foot of the stairs in his dressing gown, staring at them, his jaw open in shock. 

"Er, I mean--I'll leave you two alone now--" 

He was gone again. Lily and James looked at each other, red-faced. Then a slow grin crept across James' face as he regarded her, sitting on the window seat still, the rising sun behind her making her hair glow like an aura. "You're amazing," he whispered. She really was; Bonnie had seemed--dutiful. Like she thought a good girlfriend was supposed to do certain things for a good boyfriend, which James was. Lily didn't seem to be going through the motions, fulfilling an obligation. He felt truly wanted, which he never had with Bonnie. 

Lily was, however, nothing if not practical. She looked nervously at the doorway to the boys' stairs. "Oh, god. Was that incredibly gauche of us? I mean--I just told him yesterday that--I mean, it was practically like breaking up with him, even though we never--" 

James looked at her quizzically. "Why _did_ you consider going out with him, Lily? I thought you were over him." 

She reddened again and looked down at her hands. "I was frightened, and I'm ashamed that I was so cowardly. I very quickly saw the light. It was--a reaction. A fearful reaction to the possibility of--of being in a relationship that--" She stopped short, not sure they were ready to have this conversation yet. 

But James thought he knew what she meant. "It's okay, Lily. I think, in a way, that that's what I did with Bonnie. That's why I was rather taken aback by her talking about children and all. I wasn't dating her because I thought we were eventually going to settle down and get married. She _did_ think that." 

Lily definitely thought it wasn't the time to tell him what she'd told Sirius, about how she thought of him as the sort of man that you married. _How to make your new boyfriend run screaming away from you at top speed,_ she thought. _Especially when his old girlfriend did essentially the same thing._

She tried to force a laugh. "At any rate, this really isn't the most private place in the world, especially as the sun is coming up and people are getting out of bed and moving about." 

James nodded. "And Sirius has a nasty habit of changing into his you-know-what form and using his highly-sensitive hearing to EAVESDROP ON PEOPLE!" James bellowed suddenly, getting up and going to the doorway of the stairs to the boys' dorms. A large black dog came barreling down the stairs and leapt on him, knocking him onto his back. Lily gasped when he changed back into his human form, sitting on James' legs and holding his hands over his ears. 

"What the hell are you trying to do, Potter? Make me go deaf?" 

But then Lily and James were laughing uproariously. "Serves you right," James said, pushing Sirius off him and standing. Lily was shaking her head. 

"Do you really think you--you should _do_ that here? In case someone sees you?" 

Sirius smiled at her. "Everyone else is still in bed. But you know, Lily, it's nice that you know. James told me that he told you. I don't--I mean--I'm glad that we don't have secrets from you anymore," he said softly, looking into her eyes. Lily felt a pang of guilt; she had let him think she was truly interested in him again, when it was merely panic that had driven her to consider dating him. 

"I may be the Head Girl," she said quietly, "but I know how to keep a secret." 

She stood and walked to James and put her hands on his arms. "You should go up and change your clothes. I'm going upstairs to change into some warm things for the sleigh ride." 

James looked down appreciatively at her thin nightdress; her dressing gown was open over it. "Must you?" he asked, a hitch in his voice and a mischievous twinkle in his eye. Suddenly, he moved to the side jerkily; Sirius had pulled on his arm, hauling him toward the stairs. 

"Come on, you. Don't you know it's rude to undress your date with your eyes before you even arrive to pick her up? Not to mention you've already done your end-of-date snogging. Everything out of order! What am I going to do with you, Potter?" she heard, as they disappeared up the stairs. She couldn't help laughing and shaking her head as she went to the girls' stairs. Somehow, she knew that Sirius was going to be all right. He was on their side and clearly didn't hold against either one of them that _he_ wasn't her new boyfriend. 

When she was dressed in two jumpers and some thick corduroy trousers, over which she'd buttoned winter wizarding robes and a heavy grey wool winter cloak, she went back down to the common room, finding James waiting for her. He hugged her tightly and she also wrapped her arms around him; he seemed to be wearing just a jumper and trousers with wizarding robes. As he embraced her, he patted her back tentatively. "Are you in there, somewhere?" He seemed stymied by the many layers. 

She backed up and stuck her tongue out at him. "Very funny." 

His facial expression changed drastically. He gazed at her with a funny look about the eyes. "Do that again," he breathed. 

"What?" She frowned. 

"Stick out your tongue..." 

She dropped her jaw in mock horror. "James Potter! I'm surprised at you." 

He drew her to him again. "Surprises are good," he said simply, lowering his mouth to hers. She responded for a split second before she remembered that there were other people in the common room now. She pulled back and looked around, seeing the shocked expressions on the faces of at least half the students in Gryffindor House. The Head Girl and Head Boy were _kissing_. Then, even more surprising to her, a round of applause suddenly went up from everyone gathered. Some of the other students were standing on the furniture, whistling while they clapped. She felt a heat rise from her neck, and James grinned down at her. 

"You're a devil," she whispered to him. 

Grinning down at her, he said, "Yes, but I'm the devil you know." 

She laughed at that, and they all left the common room to eat breakfast and enjoy a morning of sleighing in the soft new fallen snow. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The sleigh ride with James was completely different from the sleigh ride with Sirius. She snuggled down under a blanket that he'd tucked around both of them, he whistled to the horseless sleigh to move, and soon they were gliding across the snow along with the rest of the students. The high sides of the sleigh hid them from the view of anyone who wasn't looking at them head on, and almost immediately, James looked down at her lovingly and leaned in for a kiss. She responded, his hands on her back and her arms around his neck. She wished she hadn't dressed quite so warmly; she felt like James was raising her internal temperature to the point where she could have gone out in her underwear and still not feel the cold. 

At length, they brought the sleigh to a stop behind Hagrid's hut and remained there for a while, kissing, before a snowball landed on top of James' head, making him kneel and look over the back of the sleigh, to see who had thrown it. They saw no one, but after he was sitting and facing forward again, James looked at the snow behind the hut with narrowed eyes; two sets of footprints were being created in the snow by unseen persons. 

He put his finger to his lips to keep Lily silent, then slowly pulled out his wand, keeping it hidden under the blanket draped across their laps. The footprints were coming nearer; suddenly, James pulled his wand out from the blanket and pointed it, crying, "_Accio Invisibility Cloak!_" 

The silvery cloth went flying through the air into his hands, and Remus and Sirius were immediately revealed. However, they were poised with snowballs in their hands, and immediately began throwing them. James stuffed the cloak down under the blanket and began to wave his wand at the snow around them. A cloud of snowballs rose up and began pelting Remus and Sirius, and they looked so comical trying to avoid them, Lily couldn't help but laugh; soon she was laughing so hard there were tears streaming down her cheeks. 

She and James left the shelter of the sleigh and were soon running about in the snow like their two ambushers, sometimes making and throwing snowballs by hand, sometimes using magic. And then Peter leapt out from around the corner of Hagrid's hut and joined in the fray. After a time, they were all breathless, lying on the snowy ground, smiling at each other, and Lily couldn't think of a time in her life when she'd been happier. She had James, she had good friends, and she had a new snowfall. For now, that was enough. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_Tuesday, 14 February, 1978_

"_For he's a jolly good fe-eh-low! And so say all of us!_" 

Charlie grinned at his brother and friends and stood up to lean over the cake his mother had sent in the post, blowing out the twelve candles on the chocolate frosting. Hagrid's voice had boomed over all the rest during the singing, and now he slapped Charlie on the back so hard he almost wound up with his face in the cake (or with a couple of candles in his eyes). 

Hagrid's small abode was cheerful and warm on this winter's day, filled as it was with both Bill and Charlie's friends and colorful streamers and the brightly wrapped presents waiting in a pile for Charlie to unwrap. A huge log crackled merrily in the oversized fireplace and Hagrid's oil lamps were sending a comforting glow into the single room. 

The candles were removed and the cake sliced up, and soon the only sounds were moans of delight as they all devoured Molly Weasley's delicious handiwork. When he was finished, Hagrid held his hand before his mouth, his burp echoing throughout the room despite this, and said, "Blimey! I should take up bakin'. Be brilliant to be able to make sommat like that whenever I please..." 

"You shudd, 'Agrid, you definite'y shudd," Charlie agreed, his mouth full. He swallowed and said, "The house smells fantastic when Mum's baking, too." 

"Well! That settles it, then. I have me a new hobby," Hagrid decided, helping himself to more cake. Suddenly, the door of the cabin flew open, and five more bodies tried to cram themselves into the room. 

"Surprise!" yelled Sirius Black and James Potter. Bill laughed. 

"This wasn't a surprise party," he told them. "But have some cake; there's plenty." 

"Don't mind if I do," Sirius said, accepting a large wedge. 

"We knew it wasn't a surprise party," Lily said, taking a wrapped package from Remus and Peter that they'd been carrying. "The surprise is _this_." 

She placed before Charlie something long, bound with brown paper and string. Something in the unmistakable shape of a broom. Charlie lifted awed eyes to the five seventh-years. 

"Gosh! You don't mean it! I mean--I've been saving my pocket money, hoping I might be able to get a broom later this year, before September--" 

James laughed. "What, when you've got this one right here? I just wish you could have been on the team this year. We could have used you." 

Charlie shrugged. "Can't. First year. Which means--I can't even have this broom, can I? I mean--it _is_ a broom?" 

"Open it, you git!" Remus grinned at him, and Charlie lost no time in tearing the paper apart. A gleaming new Comet sat in the torn wrappings; Charlie gazed rapturously at it, speechless. 

"And no, technically you can't own that, as a first year. However...if it's kept here at Hagrid's..." 

Bill stepped up to admire it. "And you have to let me try it, of course," he said, grinning at his brother. "And I'll pack it with my things when we go home for Easter. It'll be brilliant, having this to fly around the orchard at home, won't it?" 

Charlie nodded, still without words, his eyes never leaving the broom. Bill had known all along about the seventh-years' plan; James Potter had been woefully disappointed that he couldn't have Charlie on the Gryffindor team after he saw him flying rings around the other first years in flying class (as Head Boy, he'd substituted for Madam Hooch when she was under the weather for a few days). He'd never seen a natural flyer quite like Charlie, and when another student had dropped a pet toad out of his pocket during a flying mishap wherein the other boy wound up clinging to his broom upside down, Charlie had swooped under him immediately, catching the poor toad before it met an untimely death a hundred feet below. James had started lobbing small stones at Charlie ("For fun," he'd said.), charmed to float to the ground slowly, like Quaffles, and he was itching to try Charlie with an actual Snitch. No matter what, Charlie had the falling object in question in his clutches in moments, it seemed. It appeared utterly effortless for him, which James knew was the mark of a born Seeker. Unfortunately, he already had a Seeker for the Gryffindor team, and while she wasn't too bad, she made James' stomach leap about with constant worry during matches. He wanted someone who was more of a sure thing, someone like Charlie Weasley. But until he reached second year, Charlie was ineligible, so it probably wasn't even worth asking McGonagall for permission to bend the rules a bit.... 

Bill grinned at James Potter now, gratified to see that he smiled back. He'd been so relieved when James had approached him, after finding out about the party planned for Charlie, and asked whether he thought Charlie might like a broom, to get ready for being on the Gryffindor team the next year. 

"And," James had also said, "I don't think you grassed on us that time. I'm fairly sure it was Snape or Karkaroff." He looked contritely at the younger boy. "Sorry we all came down on you a bit." 

Bill drew his mouth into a line to hide his emotions; he didn't want the older boy to think he was going to fall apart because he'd received an apology. "That's okay," he said stoically. "Thanks." 

James nodded at him; he felt Weasley was all right, and his brother, too. Good, solid Gryffindor material. And even though Bill knew about Remus being a werewolf, he hadn't told anyone. That just didn't seem like something he would do if he'd ratted on them. Plus, Lily had told him that he'd _better_ apologize to Bill and stop treating him like a pariah. But he didn't tell Bill that. Sirius was already starting to call him hen-pecked. It wasn't that so much as he trusted Lily's judgment more than his own on certain things. After he'd apologized, he knew she was right about Weasley. 

The party started to draw to a close, and Bill and the other third years took responsibility for the clearing-up. While Alex Wood and Geoff Davies threw wrapping paper into the fire and Jack Richards and Mary Ann Boxwood swept the crumbs off Hagrid's huge table, Bill waved his wand to move the plates into Hagrid's stone sink, and Juliet Hathaway heated some water that was in the pitcher on the shelf and then caused it to pour over the dirty dishes. She grinned at Bill, and he looked happily back at her. For once Wallis wasn't around. Lily glanced at James before they left, then gestured to Bill and Juliet with a sly smile and a nod of her head before taking his hand and leading him outside. Remus, Sirius and Peter had already left for the castle. 

After they'd closed Hagrid's door, James pulled Lily into a deep kiss. When she broke it, she leaned her forehead on James' chin, a secret smile pulling at her mouth. 

"Aren't they cute together?" she whispered. 

"Weasley and Hathaway? And he's only fancied her for--what? A year or two? Moves fast, he does." 

"Oh, you," she said, hitting his shoulder lightly. "You should talk." 

He held her more tightly. "What? I've got you now, haven't I?" 

"Not completely," she breathed against his mouth. "Not yet," she added, before pulling his mouth down to hers again. She could feel the tenseness move through his body as he processed her words. When he pulled his mouth away from hers slowly, she was looking up at him with an expression that made her meaning abundantly clear. 

"How about Saturday night?" he asked, hardly able to get the words out. "I--I know a good place. Private. Comfortable..." 

She nodded, looking down at the clasp on his cloak. Her chest felt tight with wanting him; she looked up at his dear, dear face, hardly daring to think about how much she loved him, how happy she was that they'd finally found their way to each other. "I trust you," she said simply, not knowing how affecting those simple words were to him. 

_I trust you._

He couldn't ever remember anyone having such simple, unfettered faith in him before. Even his best friends, when they'd been learning to be Animagi, had constantly bombarded him with questions and doubts. If Remus bit them when they were in animal form, would they _really_ be safe? Could they hold their animal forms, guaranteed, without reverting to their human forms if Remus scared them or otherwise made them lose concentration in some way? They'd all been in it together, but when doubts were felt, they were expressed, not held in. They trusted each other for the most part, but they also each had an inherent skepticism that was healthy, in that it had protected them all thus far. 

But Lily--her simple _I trust you,_ crept into his heart and made him feel that he must never, ever do anything to violate that trust. He kissed her soundly, then, arms wrapped around each other, they walked back to the castle in the soft snow, each looking forward to the weekend. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_Saturday, 18 February, 1978_

"Where are we going?" Lily whispered. They were walking through the corridors under James' Invisibility Cloak; it was nearly midnight, and Lily had a jumpy feeling in her stomach. _Here's the Head Girl, sneaking out late at night again. With the Head Boy, this time._ She was glad of James' cloak, but she was still a bit nervous about Filch. She had never liked him--but then, she didn't know of a single student who felt the opposite.... 

"We're here," James whispered. They were standing before a tapestry, which James was lifting out of the way now, revealing a stone wall. 

"_Amanuensis_," he said softly, and the stones dissolved, revealing an opening in the wall through which they crept. Lily started to remove the cloak from them, but he stopped her. "_Not yet,_" he breathed against her ear. She shook from head to toe when he did this, then looked at him in the torchlight filtering through the cloak; his eyes were dark with passion. 

She nodded, since he clearly knew what he was doing, and, his arm around her waist, he guided them down a torch-lit corridor with doors on either side, every twenty or thirty feet. They made a few turnings before he came to the door he wanted. He took out his wand and said quietly, "_Alohomora!_" 

The door swung open slowly, and they pushed it open more, closing it firmly behind them. Lily heard James put a locking charm on it, and then a silencing charm. She turned to gaze at the room; it was dim in the moonlight from the windows, there were sheets draped over the furniture as though it hadn't been used in a very long time. There were clearly cobwebs to be seen on the chandelier hanging above the middle of the room, on the andirons standing before the firebox, and connecting some of the furniture. 

James removed the cloak from them now and waved his wand at some torches on the wall, and then at the fire. Flames sprung up, but they merely served to illumine the room's air of shabby desolation. Lily raised an eyebrow at him. 

"Just give us a sec," he said quickly. 

"Us?" Lily said, starting to smile. 

James shrugged. "Mum always said that. Dad teased her about it. Like the royal 'we.'" 

Lily swallowed, remembering afresh his grief over his parents' deaths. "They loved each other very much, didn't they?" 

He nodded, gazing at her, then turned and waved his wand again, saying, "_Finite incantatem._" 

And then Lily saw what a sort of shielding charm or illusion charm had kept her from seeing before: the room as it really was. The air before her seemed to shimmer and dance for a few moments, and then she saw a table with two chairs before the fire, laid with pristine white cloth, and a scrumptious chocolate mousse waiting to be eaten. A music box was playing her favorite tune (_Für; Elise_) while the firelight played over the lush carpet in front of the hearth, and over the beautiful carved furniture, including a huge four-poster bed in the corner with deep purple damask hangings and a matching coverlet. There wasn't a cobweb in sight, nor a white sheet. She turned to James and laughed. 

"Tried to make me think you'd brought me to some dreadful place, did you?" She couldn't stop smiling if she'd wanted to. He took her in his arms. 

"If I had, would you have stayed?" 

She nodded. "This is nice, but in a way, it doesn't really matter. It's you I want to be with, not a pile of furniture. But--where _are_ we, anyway? I've definitely never been in this part of the castle." 

"It's the staff wing. No one's been using these rooms for ages. I snuck in here in my Invisibility Cloak to fix it up, and then I put the charm on it yesterday to make it still look disused, just in case someone came in here anyway. The Invisibility Cloak was also useful for finding the staff wing in the first place, not to mention lurking near the entrance, to hear one of the teachers saying the password to enter..." 

He trailed off, suddenly unable to remember what he'd been talking about. All he could do was gaze into Lily's eyes, her beautiful green eyes, and tilt her head up to his for a kiss. He wasn't certain how long they'd been kissing when Lily pulled back from him, then took his hand and walked slowly toward the bed. He followed her, shaking. _This is actually going to happen. I'm with Lily. Me. James Potter. Lily Evans. What's wrong with this picture?_ he thought. 

"What are you smiling about?" she asked him, turning, her fingers doing something down his front. 

"You," he whispered. Even though he knew no one could hear them, he felt like whispering. "I'm just--I can't believe we're here. The two of us. I can't believe you want to be with _me_." 

She shook her head at him. "Silly James. We've hardly been apart for the past _week_. You didn't think I've wanted to be with you?" she laughed. "Could you ever before imagine me, in the corner of the common room, kissing a boy while sitting on his lap in an armchair?" She blushed to think of it. She and James had been together in the common room every spare moment since the sleigh ride. Sirius had sometimes thrown cushions at them and told them to get a room (with a slightly disturbed look behind his eyes). And even though they'd turned the chair to face the corner, more than once when she'd stood and emerged from their lair, she'd been greeted with whistles and catcalls and cries of, "_Good going, Potter_!" And she'd borne it with just a bit of blushing, unable to reprimand or take house points or give detentions because she was just too _happy._ She hadn't known she would feel this way, like nothing else mattered in the world.... "_I_ can't believe you want to be with _me_," she told him, pushing his robes from his shoulders; they felt to the floor behind him. 

_Oh,_ he thought. She was unbuttoning my robes. He felt mentally deficient suddenly, unable to remember what he should do next. Then his fingers seemed to be moving of their own accord, a sensory memory that evidently lived in his digits, not in his brain. When her robes were unbuttoned and also in a puddle on the floor, she took one of his fingers and drew it into her mouth, gazing up at him with those _eyes_.... 

He drew in his breath, wishing he'd learnt a spell for removing all of their clothes more efficiently, but Lily seemed intent on a leisurely pace, so he went along with her, as she unbuttoned his shirt and drew it off his arms, and he unbuttoned her blouse. When she was standing before him, clad only in her bra from the waist up, he remembered her in the pool at Ascog, and started to wonder whether he'd be able to keep up the leisurely pace.... 

She kissed his chest while working at his trouser fastenings with her hands, and his stomach clenched, remembering the way Bonnie had recoiled at the reality of his sex. She'd actually looked like she was going to retch the first time, and he waited apprehensively for Lily's reaction. She drew his trousers down and helped him step out of them, and he grew more and more anxious, as the evidence of his desire for her was unmistakable now, straining against his drawers. 

She smiled up at him, then stood. "Well," she said against his chest, her tongue reaching out suddenly to lap at his nipple. "I won't ask you whether you're sure about this. You seem pretty sure to me," she joked softly, still smiling. James was shocked, and his face must have shown it. Now she looked alarmed. "What's wrong? Oh, god, you--you must think I'm--that I'm a--" 

She turned away from him, her face crumpling, and sat on the edge of the bed, tears falling down her cheeks and dripping from the end of her nose. James was baffled. "I wish I could turn back the clock, I really do. You probably would like for me to be a virgin," she sobbed; "a blushing little virgin who's never been with anyone else. I'm sorry, James, but that's not who I am....And I know about plenty of girls here who've been around a lot more than I have, so good luck finding your little innocent--" 

"Lily!" he said, interrupting her, his eyes wide, not having expected this reaction. "What are you going on about? Hell, I'm _glad_ you have more experience than me! I don't--I don't think I probably knew what the hell I was doing with Bonnie, frankly, and it wasn't as though she ever let me figure things out. She always wanted everything to be over with quickly. I feel like a complete dunce about this sort of thing, and I was hoping that--that you'd help me out a bit when it comes to--to what you like. I don't give a damn that I'm not the first bloke you've ever been with, Lily. I just hope--" he paused, swallowing. "I just--I hope that I'm the _last_--" he finished softly. Her eyes widened as his meaning sank in. 

"Oh, James," she said simply, standing and sliding her arms up around his neck. The bare skin of their stomachs met, and James couldn't believe the warmth emanating from her body as she pressed against him. Their mouths were fused together, they were drinking each other in hungrily. The rest of the clothing removal went rather quickly after that, and soon they were lying on the bed, side-by-side, nothing to hide from each other any longer. 

He tried to let go of his expectations, forget his earlier disappointing sexual experiences, just revel in her body and her reactions, and to enjoy the unfamiliar sensation of her willingly moving her hands and mouth over him, trying to arouse him (not that he needed much help), which was new and different and wonderful. He was sometimes more tentative than she wanted him to be, he could tell, and he tried to move past this, shed his doubts. He tried not to expect the reprimand that he'd received from Bonnie when he'd moved his mouth down her body and tried to make her feel as good as she made him feel. Instead, Lily gently took his hands in hers and guided him to the place he sought, then gasped and threw her head back, moaning continuously when he'd found it, and when she finally shuddered all over and cried out his name repeatedly, he felt incredibly powerful and like the luckiest man in the world. 

He moved up her body again, kissing everything along the way, and when he reached her mouth, she surprised him by pulling him down hungrily, her tongue tracing his lower teeth, her hands moving down his body, until she curled her fingers around him and made his head reel. He felt her legs wrapping around him even as she continued to move her hand, and then there was no Lily and no James, but a new person, one being consisting of pleasure, of firelight lapping at rosy-hued skin, and rocking hips and kisses and finally, of molten pleasure that rolled through them both indiscriminately, leaving them tired but sated and thoroughly at peace. 

Lily felt too warm to be under the coverlet; she lay with her head on James' chest, her leg thrown over his hip, her lips idly kissing his chest occasionally. She felt lazy and indolent and utterly content. James stroked her hair, then followed the line of it down her back and tentatively brushed his fingers along the curves of her lovely bottom. She snuggled closer to him, a small sigh telling him the caresses were welcome, and he kept on, wanting to hear her make that little noise of approval again. 

"We still have chocolate mousse, remember," he whispered to her after a while as she traced the palm of his left hand with her fingertip. 

"Hmm," she murmured contentedly. "I wonder how you would taste with chocolate mousse..." She smiled against his chest as he groaned from the implication her words carried, and she laughed, tickling his ribs mercilessly, just where she knew he was most sensitive. 

"You little--" he started to say, laughing, tickling her back. Soon he had her on her back, screaming for mercy as he pinned her legs between his and moved his hands over _her_ ribs. But then they both sobered and he moved his hands up to her breasts instead, cupping them in his hands, feeling the tips harden.... 

Eventually, he put his hands on either side of her and leaned down to kiss her, growing aroused again. Just before his mouth made contact with hers, she spoke softly to him, her eyes full of love and desire. 

"_I wasn't kidding about the chocolate mousse_." 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_Wednesday, 5 April, 1978_

Lily walked into the Leaky Cauldron, her heart thrumming with anticipation. She had to promise to be home by six, so she could celebrate her birthday with her family, but James was taking her shopping in Diagon Alley and then to lunch anywhere she wanted to go in Muggle London. She had been floored. 

"You mean a _real_ restaurant, with--" 

"--real waiters, and no floating food or puddings that make faces at you before you eat them or elves clearing the table between courses--" 

She had laughed. Sometimes she _did_ miss the way things were done in the Muggle world. The one person to whom she would never admit this, of course, was her sister, as Petunia would point and say, "Aha! Even you think they're freaks!" 

Recently, Petunia seemed to reconsider her position on magic very slightly. She had started bombarding Lily with questions while they were waiting at the hospital for their mum to come out of her chemotherapy treatments. This was not exactly the way Lily had envisioned spending her Easter holiday: trapped with her sister and brother-in-law in a hospital lounge. Although, given the way her Christmas holiday had gone, perhaps she _should_ have expected it. 

"Didn't you say once that--the sort of people at your school--" Petunia had said furtively, looking around at the other people in the lounge; "--live longer than--other types of people?" 

Lily had swallowed and answered cautiously, "_Yehss_--" wondering, _Where is this going?_

"--and they have certain _treatments_ that other people do not?" Lily made a noncommittal noise, not looking at her sister, but at the magazine she was reading. 

"So couldn't you probably, you know," Petunia said, dropping her voice still more, "_do something about Mum's situation_?" 

Lily grimaced at Petunia's ignorance. "Not me personally, no. I don't have the proper training. There's a particular hospital where training for that sort of medicine takes place. And it doesn't take--patients like Mum--" she whispered back to her sister. 

Now Lily glanced with distaste at her brother-in-law, sitting next to Petunia. Vernon Dursley was looking very much like his father these days; he had recently taken over the Grunnings drill plant from the old man and Petunia was no longer working as his secretary but staying at home, 'keeping house,' as she put it, which Lily strongly suspected consisted in large part of gossiping about her neighbors. Petunia had found Vernon a competent young man to be his clerk, rather than a young woman. Lily shuddered to think of the screening process; Petunia had personally taken in hand the task of finding her replacement. No twenty-year-old would-be models with long blonde hair and legs all the way down to the floor, not for her Vernon. Petunia did _not_ want competition. Lily had been biting her tongue painfully; she had shown remarkable restraint in _not_ telling her sister that Vernon Dursley was the last man in the world who was going to be pursued by supermodels (who would not be caught dead clerking at the Grunnings drill plant in Surrey). 

Petunia had turned up her nose at Lily upon hearing her cryptic answer to Petunia's cryptic question, and muttered, not for the last time, "_Freaks. Every last one of you..._" 

Lily entered Diagon Alley from the yard behind the pub and worked her way toward the bookstore, where James was meeting her. She was a few minutes early and she had an enjoyable time window shopping on the way to Flourish & Blotts. Then, while standing outside the apothecary, admiring a set of solid gold weights with intricate etchings, something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. It was just a flick of a robe; a second later, it was gone. Lily turned slowly, still pretending to be checking something in the window of the shop; the apothecary had a bay window for display at the front, and standing to the side of it now, looking in one of the angled windows, Lily saw the man who had ducked out of sight down a narrow passage between two shops on the other side of the alley. She didn't see him directly; he didn't seem to realize that she could see him reflected in the glass before her. He was in a hooded cloak and what was unmistakably a mask. She drew in her breath. _Was he a Death Eater? Was he about to do something dreadful?_

She felt uneasy about the person being behind her, and started to snake her hand into her cloak pocket, reaching for her wand. Since her seventeenth birthday, she always had her wand with her in the wizarding world. Holding it down at her side, the wand hidden in the folds of her cloak, she turned her left side ever so slightly toward the lurking, masked man, and suddenly, she saw that he was looking at a large auburn-haired man standing abnormally still before the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. From his hiding place, the masked man was raising his wand, she saw, and pointing it at the auburn-haired man. She caught this in the angled shop window; she wasn't looking directly at him, so he evidently didn't think anyone had noticed him. 

She stopped watching the masked man now and strode forward purposefully, greeting the targeted man with a hug and tugging him away from where he would still have been in the masked man's line of sight. 

"There you are!" she cried with mock enthusiasm, as though she knew him. "What took you so long?" 

The man looked flustered and not a little annoyed. "What the hell?" he said, frowning, just as red sparks hit the window of the Quidditch supplies store, exactly where he'd been standing a moment before. He looked very alert suddenly, and pulled out his wand. 

The masked wizard jumped out from the niche where he'd been hiding and aimed at the auburn-haired man again, but Lily raised her wand and cried, "_Stupefy!_" 

Her spell hit him squarely and he toppled over, but then another person whom she hadn't noticed before turned toward them; he'd been feigning interest in the window of a shop selling second-hand robes. He aimed at the auburn-haired man, too, and this time he was prepared, sending a spell into the air with amazing precision. It exactly intercepted the line of crackling light heading toward him, making it deflect and bounce off of some cauldrons sitting before a shop. While he used his right hand for this, he used his left hand to pull Lily behind him, which she was finding rather annoying as she had already stunned one of _his_ attackers. He had grabbed her right arm to do this and she struggled to free her wand arm as he focused on the remaining Death Eater, beginning to pronounce the spell to stun him. Suddenly, with a _pop_, the second attacker was gone, and the shoppers in the vicinity, looking askance in their direction, muttered to themselves as they went on with their shopping, cynical and jaded in this age of Voldemort. The first man still laid on the cobblestones, stunned. Shoppers were stepping over him, unconcerned. 

Lily had finally managed to shake off the hand he had wrapped around her upper arm, and was faced with a rather irate-looking man in his mid-twenties. 

"Thanks a lot!" he said, frowning at her. "Thanks to you--" 

"--you're still alive and in one piece!" she finished for him. He did not yet put his wand away. 

"I was _going_ to say, you screwed up everything!" he responded, turning a bit red in the face. 

"Well, he wouldn't have gotten away if you hadn't dragged me behind you!" she answered his accusation hotly. "I could have stunned him while he was aiming at you!" 

"When I need the help of a civilian, I'll let you know!" he practically growled at her, looking critically at her robes, which were open over her Muggle skirt and blouse. "And a Muggle-born one at that, by the look of you." 

Lily bristled. "If you're an Auror--" 

"Sssh!" he said, putting his hand over her mouth. "Shut up!" he hissed at her, dragging her into the bookshop and down aisle after narrow aisle, finally ending up near the back of the shop, where they were surrounded by dusty stacks that appeared to have been untouched for decades. 

She extracted her wrist from his clutches, rubbing it (although she was mostly indignant, not really in pain) and glaring at him. Positioning himself against the wall and looking warily down the aisle, he said out of the corner of his mouth, "Yeah, I'm an Auror. I was trying to bring those two out into the open and make them think I wanted to capture them. We knew that they were given an assignment--to capture _me_ and get certain information from me. It was all a plant, a set up. I was _supposed_ to let myself get captured, so I could give them some bad information after letting them torture me for a while. And then _you_ had to go and 'save' me..." 

Her jaw dropped. "Well--well why couldn't you still have let yourself be taken, if that was the plan?" She was shocked that the plan included his _intention_ to be tortured. 

He sighed. "Because a civilian became involved. They could have taken you at the same time as me. Then it would have been _you_ they would have tortured to get me to talk. I'll put myself in that position, but not another person, especially a civilian. And I didn't want you to get hurt trying to do something heroic to save me, either. By the way, he could have had a clean shot at you when you hugged me back there. Not too bright." 

She shrugged. "I knew I wasn't his target. I could see that you were. And forgive me if I don't normally think of that as a _good_ thing." 

He started to say something, then changed his mind and said something else. "Wait--how did you know he was targeting me?" 

"I saw his reflection in the apothecary's window. He didn't know he'd been seen because I wasn't facing him. And I think that unless you're standing in a very specific spot, the place where he was hiding can't be seen very well. One of the few ways to see where he was is by looking at the reflections in that one side of the shop window..." 

He nodded. "Right, right." He looked at her shrewdly now, evidently not angry with her anymore. She regarded him carefully too. 

"You look familiar..." she said slowly. "Are you allowed to tell me your name? When did you finish Hogwarts?" 

He evidently hadn't forgotten all of his manners and extended his hand to her now. "Sam Bell. I finished in seventy-two." 

"Ooooh!" she said slowly now. "That's why you look familiar. You were the seventh year prefect when I was a first year. In Gryffindor, that is, obviously..." she added, feeling foolish. 

He squinted at her and shook his head. "And you are--" 

"Lily Evans," she said quietly, not expecting him to remember. But his face lit up now with recognition. 

"_You're_ Lily Evans? But you were this little skinny--" 

She smirked. "Thanks ever so much." 

He had the good grace to redden. "Sorry. I'm being very rude. I just--well, you've changed rather a lot, haven't you?" Lily was surprised by how boldly his eyes raked over her. She wondered whether he was a bit of a rogue with women or just not very well-versed in manners. 

"That will happen between the ages of eleven and eighteen," she informed him archly. He looked more friendly now and gave her a sunny grin that made it very hard to remain angry with him. 

"Good point," he conceded. "I heard you were made Head Girl. Congratulations." 

"Thank you," she answered, having been more comfortable with the slightly antagonistic Sam Bell than she was with the friendly version. She remembered that he was six years older than her, and that they were standing in the back of Flourish & Blotts, hidden in a stack of moldering old books well away from any of the other shop patrons. She felt very self-conscious about this suddenly. 

"And isn't Potter Head Boy now? I couldn't believe that when I heard it. Potter! That little scrawny--" 

"--boyfriend of the girl you've decided to corner in the back of the bookshop," came a familiar voice to Lily's left. She turned and saw with relief that James was striding toward them, his robes billowing out behind him, and, she was gratified to see, looking distinctly _non_-scrawny. 

Sam Bell looking unflatteringly flabbergasted. "Potter! Well I'll be--how are you?" 

"Fine. And you are--?" 

"Erm," Lily jumped in, trying to sound as natural as possible. "You remember Sam Bell, don't you, James? Seventh year when we were in first?" 

James Potter stood looking at Sam Bell appraisingly. Lily could see that Sam recognized James' attitude as hostile and just a bit jealous. Sam grinned ingratiatingly at him and extended his hand. James took it, reluctantly. 

"I hear you're Head Boy, now. And Quidditch captain. I was captain my seventh year. Prefect, too, but not Head Boy." 

James disconnected his hand after they shook. "Yeah, Quidditch captain," he echoed, still eyeing Sam hostilely. 

"Erm," Sam said awkwardly, "listen. Don't really have time to catch up right now. Nice to run into you both. Ta." 

And then, with a soft _pop!_ he was gone. James looked at Lily with a raised eyebrow. 

"And why were you back here with _him?_" he wanted to know. She crossed her arms and glared at him. 

"I'll tell you over lunch. It's probably best discussed once we're well away from other wizards." 

So when they were eating her birthday lunch at the Ritz, she explained to him about Sam being an Auror and "saving" him. She didn't mention that he'd been _trying_ to get captured; somehow, something in her made her glance around and think _security nightmare_ as she considered what to tell James. She didn't think of it as lying to him, but protecting him (and Sam). 

James looked a little disgruntled. "Well, I hope he thanked you properly. What's the world coming to when an eighteen-year-old girl has to save an Auror's arse!" 

"Sssh!" Lily said quickly, looking around at the Muggle patrons of the restaurant. "Watch what you say here," she said, _sotto voce,_ her eyes shifting around. James laughed. 

"You're acting like _you're_ some kind of spy now, Lily," he said, smirking, as though this was the most ridiculous idea in the world. But Lily remembered Sam asking her how she'd known he was under attack, and the impressed tone in his voice after she'd told him. Was it so ridiculous? she thought. She still hadn't figured out what she was going to do after she left school. Perhaps she had something she should consider now.... 

"What are you thinking?" he asked her cheerfully, taking a sip of water. She bit her lip, wondering whether she should tell him. _Lily Evans, Auror._

Instead, she decided to change the subject. "Come with me tonight," she said suddenly. 

"What?" 

"You--you've never met my parents. Oh, do come. Petunia won't be there. You know her; she claims she has a prior engagement. So it'll be just me and Mum and Dad. I want them to meet you. To--to like you," she finished softly. James' eyes opened very wide and he took another sip of water. 

"All--all right," he said swallowing. She smiled at him, knowing that he was no longer thinking about Aurors but instead busy panicking about meeting her parents. It was sneaky of her, to distract him this way, and yet--she really did want him to meet them. And vice versa. She looked at James again as she ate her lunch. She had meant what she'd said to Sirius about James, and she felt like this was another step in her future being finalized. Lily felt a trifle overwhelmed for a moment; in one day, she'd decided that she just might want to be an Auror and had taken another step toward James being part of her family. It was a landmark birthday indeed. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_Friday, 2 June, 1978_

"That was brilliant," Jack said as he and Geoff left their Transfiguration exam. Bill and Alex were waiting for them in the corridor. The two Gryffindors fell into step beside their Hufflepuff friends as they strode down the corridor, anxiously awaiting the news. 

"So? It went all right? And McGon--I mean, _she_ didn't suspect a thing?" Alex asked in an anxious whisper. 

Geoff grinned at his friends. "She had no idea. It helped that you two were outside the window, flying about, so that Jack could say, 'Oi! What's Weasley up to?' and that sort of thing. Worked every time." 

Bill shrugged. "I borrowed Charlie's broom. The school brooms are hopelessly poky." 

They all felt a rush of freedom through their chests; the Hufflepuff Transfiguration exam--written and practical--was the last examination any of the four of them had to withstand until Monday morning, when the Gryffindors still had Potions (all morning) and History of Magic to get through (all afternoon). The schedule was reversed for the Hufflepuffs: History first, then Potions. More importantly, the Transfiguration exam was the last one that had a practical portion which Geoff needed help with. After this, they could all just concentrate on revision and quizzing each other on potions ingredients and Goblin rebellions. Or at least--they could do that after the Quidditch final, in the morning. 

"Think Gryffindor'll win tomorrow?" Jack asked Bill and Alex. "I hate to think of Slytherin winning..." 

Geoff nodded in hearty agreement. "_Everyone_ hates to think of that happening. I don't know a single person in our house who won't be cheering for Gryffindor." 

"Right," Jack agreed. "Oh, Bill, is your mum coming and bringing the twins?" 

Bill shook his head. "Dad sent an owl yesterday; they're all staying home after all. The twins are being colicky, Percy's teething again, Peggy fell from a tree, has her arm in a sling, and the bones won't be done mending until Sunday, and Annie's just being a general pain in the arse and is confined to her room all weekend. Something about nicking Mum's wand when she was napping and Transfiguring Peggy's favorite doll. You know: the usual chaos at my house. But Dad said they'll try to come to the first match Gryffindor plays this autumn, especially if Charlie makes the team." 

"_If_?" Alex said, appalled. "Has he no more confidence in his son that _that_?" 

The others laughed, then sobered. "It might be a bit rough tomorrow," Jack said, a warning in his voice. "I heard that Snape really has it in for Potter, ever since Potter stole Evans from him." 

Alex shrugged. "If there's one person Potter's not afraid of, it's Snape," he said confidently. "And it's Snape broke up with Evans, remember? If he's upset about her being with Potter, he's no one to blame but himself." 

"I know," Jack answered. "I didn't mean it that way. I just mean--well, he does seem pretty upset about their being together. I thought he was good at giving the Evil Eye before. It's even _worse_ now." 

"It probably doesn't help that Potter's just made it onto the English team as a reserve Chaser, after they lost Wellington in that match against Finland. _And_ that it looks like England might be in the final of the World Cup, in August. Wouldn't that be brilliant, if we knew someone who won the World Cup?" Jack said in awe. 

"Well," Bill cautioned; "he's a reserve. He might not play, even if England _does_ win." 

Jack shrugged. "Still--" 

The four boys failed to see a shadowy figure about to emerge from a boys' bathroom as they passed, chattering animatedly. His lank dark hair hung down on either side of his sallow cheeks; he no longer bothered to pull it back into a ponytail. Who cared what he looked like? If he wasn't careful, if he looked anything less than repulsive, Narcissa Anderssen might try to shag him again.... 

Severus Snape shuddered at the very idea. Then he thought of the boys' words. _Wouldn't that be brilliant, if we knew someone who won the World Cup?_ James Potter, playing Quidditch for England. It was enough to make him _sick,_ the first time he'd heard about it. And Lily was with him now.... 

It was clear, on the morning of February nineteenth (he would always remember the date) that Potter had slept with her. The way she was gazing at him was unmistakable. The thing was--he remembered when she'd looked at _him_ that way. When he was the one looking down into her softly glowing face, seeing that expression of amazement. He'd been unable to eat anything that day, torturing himself by imagining them together....Even swooping over the Quidditch pitch on his broom, getting some of the Slytherin Chasers to give him some practice keeping the Quaffle out of the goals wasn't enough to thoroughly distract him from his thoughts of Lily. 

And then, not a month later, he'd heard them in the library, heard the unmistakable sounds of _kissing_ and sighing, and he hadn't had to look to know whose sighs they were; he recognized Lily's sounds anywhere. He was ashamed of himself for peeking through the books to see them kissing; when he thought one of them had turned toward him, he quickly strode out. After that, it seemed that he was practically falling over them, time after time. Everywhere he went, he seemed to find James and Lily, Lily and James. It was almost as though _they_ were following _him._ And yet, from what he could tell, they were actually oblivious to the rest of the world, as though they were the only two people in it. 

It happened again in late May, when he was doing revision for the N.E.W.T.s in the library. The kissing and sighing behind the stacks.... 

"James," she whispered, "I need to talk to you." Severus' ears pricked up; he knew that tone of voice. She was being very serious. Potter, however, wasn't paying attention to her. Severus continued to hear kissing noises. 

"_James_," she said sternly. Severus knew that tone of voice as well. The noises stopped. 

"Yes, Lily. What is it?" 

"I--I have to tell you something..." Severus strained to hear them, wondering what could be making her sound like that. 

"Yes, yes. You said. What is it?" 

"Well--" she hesitated. "I wrote a letter to Sam Bell." 

Severus frowned. _Who?_

"Who?" Potter was having the same reaction. 

"Sam Bell. You know, that Auror I saved on my birthday." 

_Auror?_ Lily saved an Auror on her birthday? 

"Oh, right. Why would you write to him?" 

"Well, you know how I--I hadn't made any plans yet for what to do after I'm finished school..." 

"There's no rush, Lily. And--wait. What do you mean '_hadn't_ made any plans?'" 

"That's what I'm trying to tell you. Sam came here to Hogwarts, to talk with me. Just sending post back and forth wouldn't have been very secure...." 

"What are you talking about?" Potter sounded antagonistic, and Severus wasn't sure he blamed him. _Who the hell is this Auror?_

"What I'm talking about is--what we talked about is--what it's like to be an Auror. And whether I'd be any good at it." 

_What?_

"_What?_ Are you mad?" 

Severus heard some rustling and thought that Lily might be extricating herself from James Potter's embrace. 

"There's a lovely reaction. I've finally worked out what I want to do, and that's what you have to say?" 

There was a tense silence. Severus resisted the urge to move closer to them to hear better. 

Potter sighed. "I'm sorry, Lily. I just--I wasn't expecting this. So. You--you're going to be an Auror?" His voice sounded a bit choked. 

"Well," she hesitated. "I'm going to take the tests to be admitted for training. I'd have to pass those with high marks. And even if I do, there's the training itself. I'd have to make it through. But, yes. I'm going to attempt to become an Auror," she said very quietly. 

"Come here," Potter said gently, and Severus heard rustling and sighing again; it seemed that Lily had returned to his embrace. "I'm glad that you finally worked out what you want to do, I really am. It's just--well, rather dangerous. I'm allowed to be worried about you, aren't I?" 

Lily paused before answering. "So, you're not going to try to stop me?" 

Potter gave a small laugh. "As if I could. As if anyone could. No, I'm not going to try to stop you. You certainly didn't try to stop me from trying out for the English team." He heaved a great sigh. "My Lily, an Auror. I admit, I'm having trouble picturing it..." 

She laughed ruefully. "So am I, a bit. But Sam says I have good instincts, and the training I'll get will teach me all of the tricks of the trade." 

"Oh, _Sam_ says, does he?" Potter _definitely_ sounded jealous now. 

"Yes, _Sam_ says. You're _jealous_, aren't you? You were jealous the first time you saw him." 

Potter made a huffing noise. "Well--look at him. With his--his muscles. And--his--his being an Auror--" 

Lily laughed. "Stop being silly. He's _married_, you prat. He showed me a lovely photo of his wife. And they're expecting a baby, in December. Sam's over the moon about it. Can't wait for the day his son or daughter can ride a broomstick and learn to play Quidditch." 

"Oh," was all that Potter said. Severus grimaced; he'd been having the same reaction to Lily mentioning Sam. But somehow it didn't reassure him to know that this Sam Bell was married and about to become a father.... 

He leaned against the stone wall outside the boys' bathroom, listening to the footsteps of the third years receding down the corridor. In the morning, he was playing against James Potter for the Quidditch Cup. Three times as many people would be cheering for Gryffindor as for Slytherin. Both Gryffindor and Slytherin were undefeated, having won matches against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Slytherin had a boy who was arguably the finest Seeker the school had seen in years; however, Gryffindor had James Potter playing Chaser, James Potter who was a reserve Chaser for England. 

Gryffindor had won both of their previous matches because of Potter, not their little Seeker. Potter had made the score so lopsided before the Snitch was caught (four-hundred to twenty in the match against Hufflepuff, three-hundred-thirty to forty against Ravenclaw) that the Seekers were almost beside the point. When the Snitch was seen by the Hufflepuff Seeker in that match, he had hesitated, knowing how the score stood, and the Gryffindor Seeker had swooped past him and claimed it. The Ravenclaw Seeker had had her pride, however, and raced to catch it before the girl from Gryffindor, even knowing that Ravenclaw would only have one hundred ninety points. They would lose the match, but at least she could say she caught the Snitch. 

Severus knew it was up to him, as the Keeper, to control the game, to prevent Potter from unbalancing the score and virtually taking the Seekers out of the equation. Slytherin was trailing Gryffindor by two-hundred points in the race for the Cup. _I will show Potter no mercy and win this match if it's the last thing I do at Hogwarts,_ he thought, striding down the corridor, catching up with the third-year boys. He barreled through the center of the group, making them scatter like tenpins, hearing their grunts of indignation with a smug satisfaction. With trepidation, they watched his dark figure storm down the castle corridor away from them, his robe flapping behind him like the wings of a bat. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_Saturday, 3 June, 1978_

Severus Snape flung the Quaffle as hard as he could to the nearest Slytherin Chaser, O'Brien. _He actually caught it_, Severus thought with an unbecoming smirk. But he was scowling again not twenty seconds later when Sirius Black hit a Bludger which blasted through O'Brien's broom twigs, leaving him with barely a piece of straw on the end of his broom. The jolt made him lose hold of the Quaffle, and before Severus knew it, James Potter had grabbed it out of the air and was zipping back toward the Slytherin goal posts with it. _If those idiots could keep the Quaffle away from him, or if the Beaters would hit a Bludger at his head, my job would be a hell of a lot easier..._

James Potter paused momentarily, a lopsided grin on his face; most of the other players were still at the other end of the pitch and hadn't reached the Slytherin end, as he had. He feinted toward the center goal, then the left hoop, and finally zipped past Severus Snape to put the Quaffle through the far right hoop. 

"_GRYFFINDOR, ONE-TWENTY, SLYTHERIN, ZERO!_" cried the fourth-year Ravenclaw boy who was doing the announcing. Cheers went up from seventy-five percent of the crowd, boos from the Slytherins. Some players sporting green and silver scarves started throwing butterbeer bottles onto the pitch, barely missing the girl who was the Gryffindor Seeker, and Madam Hooch blew her whistle and called for Filch to eject the students; she didn't call a time-out, though, as it wasn't a foul committed by players, and the game continued. 

The same thing kept happening repeatedly, until Severus started to wonder whether he was in some kind of time loop. One-thirty to zero. The Quaffle sailing past him again, through the center hoop. One forty to zero. The crowd was chanting _Potter! Potter! Potter!_

At last, when he threw the Quaffle to his Chasers after a Gryffindor score, they actually caught it and started zooming toward the other end of the pitch. He watched the two Seekers; the Gryffindor girl wasn't especially good, but it hardly seemed to matter with Potter playing for them. The Slytherin Seeker, on the other hand, was a boy from a long line of excellent Seekers. His dad still played for the Pride of Portree, and his grandfather had won the 1946 World Cup for Scotland. He knew they were very lucky to have Craighead on their team, and now his heart was in his throat as he saw that the boy had seen the Snitch, and was zooming toward it. It was near the Gryffindor goal posts, not a foot off the ground. Severus' heart was beating a mile a minute. _Gryffindor only has one-forty. If Craighead catches it, we'll have one-fifty and win!_ But then he realized that they still wouldn't win the Quidditch cup, as that would only give them ten more points, and they were behind Gryffindor by two-hundred. He felt bile rise in his throat. _It just wasn't fair!_

A roar went up from the crowd; he'd let his mind wander and Potter had scored on him again! _Gah_, he thought, retrieving the Quaffle from its slow free-fall and hurling it toward a Slytherin player before noticing that he was a Beater. _Damn!_ The beater instinctively hit the oncoming orb with his bat before realizing that it wasn't a Bludger, which sent the Quaffle neatly into the hands of James Potter yet again. The Slytherin Seeker was still hurtling toward the Snitch and the announcer was saying, "THAT'S GRYFFINDOR ONE-FIF---OH!" 

Severus had tried to block Potter again, but he miscalculated and the Quaffle zipped past him through the hoop. And still the Slytherin Seeker did not know what was going on behind him, at the other end of the pitch. Severus didn't even bother trying to retrieve the Quaffle; he watched with a lump in his stomach, watched the inevitable happen as Craighead grabbed the Snitch and held it up triumphantly, thinking he'd won the match, flying past the Slytherin spectators, grinning. Then the grin faded from his face. They weren't cheering, as he expected, and Severus Snape felt badly for the boy; he really was a brilliant Seeker. It wasn't his fault that the team had a pillock for a Keeper, who couldn't keep James Potter from scoring again and again.... 

Everyone seemed to be stunned, including the announcer, who finally said, "THE GAME IS OVER AND GRYFFINDOR WINS, ONE-SIXTY TO ONE-FIFTY! GRYFFINDOR HAS WON THE QUIDDITCH CUP!" 

Severus Snape descended to the ground near the Slytherin goals, feeling empty inside. He pushed at his hair in irritation, wishing he'd decided to pull it back, as he used to. His face felt rough and he realized that he'd forgotten to shave that morning. Well, who cared what he looked like? Lily certainly didn't.... 

There she was now, making her way through the throng surrounding the Gryffindor team, grinning at James Potter and finally throwing her arms around his neck, as he gathered her to him and kissed her thoroughly, while people continued to pat him on the back. He heard one or two shouts of, "Get a room!" as their kiss continued. Lily resurfaced then, turning red, still unable to stop smiling, and she and Potter walked back to the castle with their arms around each other, jostled by the crowd, and yet somehow, carving their own private space out of it. 

James Potter and Lily Evans, the sort of couple no one would question. Both Gryffindors and excellent students (even Severus had to admit). Head Girl and Head Boy. They seemed to be made for each other. Why had he never seen that Sirius Black wasn't the real threat, nor even Remus Lupin? It was Potter all along. When they'd been together, she'd mentioned his name far too often for his liking. _James said_ this and _James said_ that. _James James James._ And then Potter had to go and save his life. That's when he first thought he might have cause to worry about Potter, but stopping it was like stopping gravity, or the march of time.... 

_Gah._

Severus looked down at his hand; there were red blisters on the back. "Damn," he muttered softly to himself. "Missed a spot..." He had to prepare so carefully for Quidditch, especially at this time of year, when even in northern Scotland the sun was beginning to get quite strong. He took a small tube out of a pocket in his robes and rubbed a salve onto the inflamed skin, mentally cursing his porphyria. As he did so he watched the throng of Gryffindor supporters making their way to the castle; there were still some subdued Slytherin supporters on the pitch, but they were avoiding Snape. His eyes slid furtively over his teammates, then he picked up his broom and walked toward the greenhouses. He didn't want to see anyone just now... 

He reached the shelter of the oaks and after walking a few yards away from the entrance to the corridor of trees, stopped and leaned against one of them, staring into space. He remembered being here with Lily, telling her he loved her, kissing her.... 

Then he heard a step on the path, twigs and fallen leaves being trod on, and he turned to see a young man, perhaps in his mid-twenties, walking into the oak allée; toward him. Snape wasn't sure who he was, but something about him looked familiar... 

"Tough luck, Snape," the young man drawled. He had cornsilk-light hair and a pointed face, grey eyes that betrayed no emotion. Severus looked toward him, silent, wishing he would just disappear. Now he remembered: Lucius Malfoy. Narcissa Anderssen's boyfriend. _Brilliant_, Severus thought. _Just what I need right now. A jealous boyfriend come to hex me. That was five months ago! As if I wanted his whore of a girlfriend anyway...._

"Remember me?" Malfoy asked, as though anyone could ever forget him. Severus spoke carefully, with almost no inflection in his voice. 

"Malfoy. Seventh year when I was in first. Sorry you wasted your time coming today." _I didn't want Anderssen, I didn't want Anderssen. Leave me the hell alone._

Lucius Malfoy smiled ominously. "Oh, it would have been nice to see a Slytherin victory, that's true. But I definitely did not waste my time coming." 

Severus did not look at him, in case he saw something in his eyes that looked remotely like guilt. _I do not feel guilty about what happened at that party,_ he thought stubbornly. But he knew that wasn't true. However, it wasn't because Anderssen had a boyfriend that he felt guilty; it was because of Lily. 

To look busy, and so he wouldn't have to look him in the eye, he took out his tube of salve and rubbed some into the back of his hand again. He watched Malfoy out of the corner of his eye. The blond man was smirking. "Is that what you do? To stay out in the sun? I wondered. It's pretty bright today; you must be glad to get away from it again." Severus lifted his face to Malfoy's now, looking at him now with narrowed eyes. _The vampire thing again._ He remembered Anderssen's little "kink," the way she'd asked him to bite her. Malfoy approached him and was now standing about a foot away from Severus, who was feeling very uncomfortable. _What next? Is he going to ask me to bite him now? What a warped pair they make..._ He decided to try to put a stop to it, scare him off. 

He swallowed first, then said softly, "Careful. Better not come too close. I get rather peaked after a match." He tried to keep his own face as impassive as possible while scanning Malfoy's face to see whether this had intimidated him. 

It hadn't, not in the slightest. Instead, Malfoy laughed. "I brought insurance," he informed him, pulling a necklace with a head of garlic out of his robes. Severus immediately recoiled, backing up and putting his hand over his mouth and nose. Malfoy laughed again. "I wondered whether people were putting me on about that. I can see now they weren't." _"People" being Narcissa Anderssen_, Severus thought. "Of course, I should have known; you obviously haven't looked in a mirror in quite a while." Severus flinched at the insult, but said nothing. "I just want to talk to you. Can I talk to you?" 

Severus doubted that it would be that simple. "About what?" _About your girlfriend's vampire fantasy? Don't blame me because she's sick._

"What are your plans for when you're done school?" 

Severus felt that Malfoy was not to be trusted. He said in a cautious, flat voice, "Working in my uncle's apothecary in Dunoon." 

"Ah, Dunoon. The Firth of Clyde is quite beautiful, isn't it?" Malfoy was waxing rhapsodic now. "Of course, I like Dunoon because of its bloody history....So. Uncle in Dunoon. Is he Scottish?" 

He nodded. "My mother's brother." 

"Mother's side. Hmmm. Dunoon. What's your uncle's name?" 

"MacDermid." 

"Ah, Clan Campbell. Good. Not Clan Lamont. Weaklings. Of course, in Dunoon, chances are you're going to be one or the other. In all of Argyllshire, for that matter. Although anyone with sense agrees that the Campbells had it all over the Lamonts centuries ago; they let the Muggles in their clan take over much sooner than the Campbells. I'm Clan Campbell as well, on my mother's side. She's a Bannatyne. Glorious, bloody history, Clan Campbell. My father's French family has almost as bloody a history--always managed to be on the winning side, whether it was the revolution, or the reversals that followed, or the Vichy regime...but no one can really touch the Scots for bloodiness, eh?" 

Severus stared at him. _Where is this going? When is he going to accuse me of sleeping with his girlfriend?_ He did not answer. Malfoy continued, clearly enjoying hearing the sound of his own voice. 

"You know what my favorite bloody story is? Takes place in Dunoon; you made me remember. The Massacre of 1646. After the Campbells hit the Lamont castles of Towart and Ascog with all they had, and the Lamonts surrendered. Our clan gave them a written guarantee of liberty. Of course the idiots believed that. They were taken to Dunoon in boats and sentenced to death in the church. Only a little over a hundred survivors. The histories say they were all shot or stabbed to death, but we wizards know it was really the killing curse did them in, except for the thirty-six 'special gentlemen' who were hanged from a tree in the churchyard--I think they were half-wizard and half-Muggle. And then there was the Chief and his brothers. They were prisoners for a number of years; why they didn't kill them, I don't know. Of course, at that time, the Chief was still a wizard. Might have been because of that. The almost-dead were buried in the same pits as the dead. Think of it! Wish I'd have been there..." 

"Why are you telling me this?" _Is that what he has planned for me? And for my uncle too? Wipe our family from the face of the earth?_

"Because I think we're kindred spirits, Snape. Same house. Same Clan. And I'm hoping--same desire to serve the Dark Lord." 

Severus' eyes widened only a little, trying to hide his surprise. He remembered Anderssen poking at his arm, saying something about a mark, and putting a good word in for him with Malfoy. Perhaps Malfoy really didn't know about the incident at Ascog and this was proof that she was keeping her word. Not that he'd wanted her to. "Is that what this is about?" he asked, still cautious. 

Malfoy stepped toward him again; Severus backed up instinctively and found himself against a tree. "I have a job to offer you." 

"I told you; I have a job lined up," Severus said, internally cursing himself for the shake in his voice. _Never show fear._

Malfoy stepped back, his smile in place again. "It's not a full-time job, although it's an important one. You'll still have plenty of time to--work in your uncle's apothecary," he said with a patronizing sneer. 

"What is it?" he spat. 

"Do you know the boy who's the fifth-year prefect in Ravenclaw?" 

Severus thought about this. _Fifth-year Ravenclaw prefect._ He pictured the boy now. "I don't really know him. I know what he looks like. Blond boy." It was a darker, yellower blond than Malfoy, who was white-blond. The Ravenclaw had hair the color of dirty straw. 

"Yes. Do you know who his father is?" Severus shook his head. "Well, his father is a very important man. His father works very hard. He puts dark wizards in Azkaban. He's always working. And his son hates him for that, among other things. His son is just looking for a way to get back at his father. But he's only in fifth year; he's young, doesn't know any of the right people. That's where you come in." 

"How?" He hadn't meant to show interest, but the word just popped out. 

"You will get to know him, before school is out for the summer. Become his friend. Write letters to each other, invite him to visit you in Dunoon during holidays. I want you to become the big brother he never had. A father figure, for a boy whose father has written him off. He needs someone like you, and you can be there for him. And you have time; it will be two years before he's done school. I expect by that time, he will be ready." 

"Ready? For what?" 

"For one of these." Malfoy pulled up his sleeve, showing Severus what Anderssen had been talking about: something that appeared to be a tattoo was on the pale skin there, the image of a skull with a snake for a long, eerie tongue. Severus drew in his breath between his teeth; he couldn't help it. Malfoy seemed glad that he'd impressed him. "You won't get yours until then, also. Don't want to tip off young Mr. Crouch too early. Until then you'll be strictly an unofficial Death Eater..." 

Severus swallowed. _Had he said 'Crouch?'_ "Crouch? Do you mean--Barty Crouch's son?" 

"Yes. Barty Crouch, Jr. We fully expect him to be very useful. But we need you to--cultivate him. Make him ripe for the picking. You have two years. Should be enough, don't you think?" 

Severus' head was swimming. This couldn't be happening. "But--his father! If I approach Barty Crouch's son and suggest that he become a Death Eater, what makes you think he won't report me to his father?" 

Malfoy smiled. "He won't. Not if you do your job and make him trust you completely. He's looking for a way to get back at his father as much as we are; and we've decided that using his own son will work very nicely." 

Severus swallowed. There had to be a way out of this. "What if I refuse?" 

Malfoy stepped toward him with his wand out now. "Then I will have to kill you. Fortunately, wands happen to be little pointy sticks made of wood," he said bringing it ominously close to Severus' heart, then pulling back. "Of course, I could just alter your memory, but that's no fun. You'd still be walking around. I thought that a dark creature like yourself would welcome the opportunity to serve the Dark Lord." 

Severus Snape swallowed once, twice, never taking his eyes off Malfoy. "All right." He wasn't sure what he was doing, but suddenly, as soon as he said it, his voice no longer shook. He remembered hearing Lily saying that she was going to train to be an Auror. _That's what good little Gryffindors are supposed to do, aren't they? And what are Slytherins supposed to do? This, evidently._ He felt odd, like a purpose for his life had suddenly been restored to him, a purpose that had been missing since he'd ended it with Lily. 

Malfoy removed a stoppered vial from a pocket in his robes. "Here," he said, tossing it to Severus, who caught it reflexively. He stared at the viscous red liquid inside, recognizing it, then looked back at Lucius Malfoy's face in disbelief. As his hand wrapped around the thin glass he could feel that it was still warm. 

"A gift," Malfoy told him. He turned and walked out of the grove. Severus held the vial of blood, looking at it intently. _He really thinks I'm a vampire._ He looked up, but Malfoy was gone. _Well, let him believe I'm a dark creature. It will probably only be to my benefit._

But as he walked back to the school, under the oaks, he felt like doing something violent, something destructive, and he gripped the vial in his hand tightly before throwing it so that it broke against one of the larger tree trunks, shattering, splattering the blood. He walked on, feeling only a small release from the violent action, wondering what someone would think of the blood-spattered tree when it was discovered, wondering whose blood it was.... 

_I'm going to be a Death Eater,_ he thought. _And Lily's going to be an Auror._

It was official. They were enemies. There was no turning back. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_Saturday, 4 November, 1978_

They were a happy group trooping back up to the castle; Charlie was bouncing along jauntily, bursting with his first Quidditch victory. As he walked along holding once of Peggy's hands and his father the other, Bill grinned at his brother. Charlie had been brilliant, swooping down on the Snitch before the Slytherin Seeker knew what was happening, and that was saying something, since Craighead was the most brilliant Seeker at the school. _Was,_ Bill thought smugly, remembering the shocked look on the third-year's face as Charlie looped around him, plucking the Snitch out of the air when the Slytherin's hand was only inches away from it. 

Amazingly, Annie seemed to be the most struck by her brother's Quidditch prowess. Although they were normally combatants in a war that had begun on the day she was born, today she had asked permission to carry his broom for him after the game, and Bill and his dad exchanged smiles over her head. Annie was clearly idolizing her brother, although she wasn't saying anything outright, and Bill felt this boded well for the future. She would be a first year when Charlie was a fifth year and Bill was in his last year, and Bill was looking forward to it, three of them going to Hogwarts at the same time. The only thing that made him a bit sad was that he would be out of school by the time Peggy started, but he was glad that she would have Annie and Charlie to show her the ropes, and then she and Annie would be in fifth and seventh years when Percy started and could be _his_ guides. Peggy and Percy would later help the twins, Fred and George. 

Bill shook his head as he walked; his dad, holding Peggy's other hand so they could swing her between them every few steps, asked him why. 

"Oh, I was just thinking about when Percy's ready to start school and Annie and Peggy can help him out, like Charlie and I can help Annie when she starts. It must be hard to come without having any brothers or sisters to show you the ropes." 

Arthur Weasley smiled affectionately at his eldest son. "You did," he reminded him, as they swung Peggy over a puddle, making her whoop and giggle. 

"Yeah, but I was lucky. On my first train ride, I was taken in by three prefects. I told you about two of them--James Potter and Lily Evans." 

"Last year's Head Boy and Head Girl? Right, I remember. Well, that's what prefects are for, aren't they? Among other things...." 

Bill squinted at his dad. "Were you a prefect, when you were in school?" 

His father looked abashed and reddened slightly. "Actually, I was. I don't like to brag, but--" 

Bill grinned at him. "You're allowed to brag to your kids, a little. Until we tell you to stop, anyway," Bill laughed. 

Arthur regarded Bill fondly again; at nearly-fifteen, he was almost six feet tall, and if it weren't for his thin build he might routinely be taken for an older student. "I brag to Peggy all the time, don't I Pegs?" 

She beamed up at her father, red braids flying as they swung her between them again. "It's not bragging if it's the truth, Daddy." She turned and looked up at Bill. "Daddy's the most brilliant wizard at the Ministry. He's going to be the Minister of Magic someday, you know." 

Bill started to laugh, then remembered that this was _Peggy_ saying this. Peggy who seemed to have the Sight. He sobered and looked down at her. "Really, Peg? You're sure?" 

"Sure I'm sure," she said cheerfully. "I asked for it for my birthday present, on Wednesday, and Daddy promised he would do it someday, and Daddy doesn't break his promises." 

"Ooooh," Bill said in understanding. It wasn't one of those things she'd Seen; it was a promise from their dad. "Well, then I'm sure he shall be Minister of Magic, as he's made you a birthday promise. How does it feel to be six?" 

"It feels like more swinging!" she crowed, leaping into the air between them and trusting that they would pull up on her arms and prevent her from winding up in her knees in the mud that inevitably marked the path from the Quidditch pitch back to the castle at this time of year. They didn't disappoint her, and she was once more suspended between her father and brother, laughing merrily. 

Charlie caught up with them and was walking beside his brother now. "Too bad Mum couldn't come," he said. Bill saw that he was disappointed about this, although he was putting a good face on it. Bill knew he'd worried about coming to school last year and leaving Mum to manage without him to help keep the younger children in order. Although he didn't always take well to caretaker duties--hence his rows with Annie--he didn't like the idea of their mum being more burdened. 

Their dad sighed. "She wanted to, but your Aunt Meg was invited to a wedding and couldn't baby-sit for Percy and the twins, and you know how she is--she doesn't really trust anyone else. I suggested she bring the younger boys, but she said she'd just be managing them the entire time, trying to keep them quiet, and she was probably right." 

He grinned at Charlie, trying to comfort him, and Charlie gave him a grateful half-smile. "'S'okay, Dad. I understand." 

"Tell you what; next time I'll take care of all five younger kids and let you mum come see you play. And then she can have a nice visit with her two older boys here, without any babies to fret over. Won't that be nice?" 

"Without _us_?" Peggy said in real distress. Her father gave her a slightly stern look. 

"Mum needs a break every so often, Peggy. It's not nice to begrudge her that." 

Properly chastised, Peggy looked down at her muddy boots as she walked and mumbled, "Yes, Daddy." 

Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew walked along behind the Weasleys, trying to find the least-muddy places to put their feet. Remus dug his hands deep into his pockets and breathed in deeply the autumnal scent of Hogwarts. It was so strange to be back here and not a student; he'd been rather at loose ends since they'd finished school in June, and was still living at home with his parents. He'd answered a few advertisements in the _Daily Prophet_, but no one had hired him. He didn't have a very good plan for what to do, not like James and Lily. He couldn't believe that Lily was off training to be an Auror; it seemed like such an adult thing to do. He'd been very supportive of her and James' relationship since February, but there were still times--especially before the full moon--when he still ached for her, and not just physically. 

James had tried talking to him about it once, but Remus had put him off, telling him that he was very happy for them and not to worry about him. James had looked like he was feeling a bit guilty, as though he'd stolen Lily from him. Remus had found out why James was being like this when, on their last morning at Hogwarts, before getting the train home, James announced that he had asked Lily to marry him and she had accepted. Sirius had hugged them both enthusiastically, and Remus had shaken James' hand and tentatively hugged Lily, ever mindful of his werewolf strength. She had looked in his eyes searchingly and said softly, "_Are you all right, Remus?_" 

The idea that she was worried about him made his heart turn over. He'd nodded through his unshed tears and told her that he was looking forward to their wedding. However, since James was playing for England until the end of the summer, and after that he was going to be trying for a position with a team in the League, and since Lily was going to be off doing something mysterious from September to January, they weren't going to be having the wedding until the following June. Lily in particular looked very relieved about this. 

"A whole year to plan!" she said. "Mum and I will need it." 

Sirius was as aimless as Remus, also still living with his parents, but to Remus' knowledge he hadn't even tried to apply for any jobs, as Remus had. Still, for some reason, when Peter had come by asking whether he wanted to come to Hogwarts for the first Gryffindor game and Remus had asked Sirius to join them, Sirius had declined, pleading a prior commitment. Remus had thought this very odd; what prior commitment could Sirius possibly have on a Saturday morning? But then Remus thought about Sirius' dating habits in school, and assumed it must be a girl. So that left him stuck with just Peter for company. 

He glanced sideways at Peter, whose mother had gotten him a job at the _Prophet_, in the research-and-fact-checking department. He spent his days sending owls to people to verify quotes, or correcting the spelling of names with the wave of a wand. It was fairly undemanding work, and Remus had almost been tempted to ask whether there was another opening, but the idea of doing the same thing as Peter was slightly depressing, and he decided that he'd rather say he just hadn't found the right job for him yet. 

"You sure we should go back to the castle for lunch, instead of going to the pub in the village?" Remus asked Peter. Peter shrugged. 

"I only suggested it because I didn't think you had much in the way of money. We won't be trying to sit at the Gryffindor table or anything; I thought we'd just nip down to the kitchens and see what the house-elves would like to part with. You know how they are." 

Remus nodded; it was never a chore to get food from the elves, and he _was_ rather short of funds. He put his gloved hand in his pocket and felt the five Sickles there, all he had in the world until his father gave him his allowance on Monday. _Allowance._

_I'm eighteen years old, I've had seven years of magical education, and I'm living with my mum and dad and getting an allowance._

"Yeah, I know how the elves are," he answered Peter, unable to not notice the slightly smug expression on Peter's face. _He knows I can't afford to go to a pub and have a nice meal any time I like._

He thought of the Hogwarts meals he'd enjoyed for seven years, then tried to forget about them again as his stomach moved within him. He hadn't had breakfast and was looking forward to a good lunch. He was especially hungry because the moon would be rising full that night; he wasn't going through the sexual mania, though, because he'd discovered a werewolf pub in North Yorkshire where he had traveled the night before (and used up some Muggle money he'd converted from wizarding currency), and met up with a girl there who was also a werewolf. She was a Muggle, as were most of the pub's patrons. He hadn't told her he was also a wizard. 

She had helped him ease his carnal desires as he had helped her with hers, but there had been a middle-aged man across the room who had been giving Remus this _look_, and he'd almost abandoned her for the older man. He'd never known this was a possibility before, a pub like this, and was very, very grateful that he had a way of being around people just before the full moon now. Otherwise, he would have told Peter to go to the match alone; there was no way he could have withstood sitting with the other spectators, watching the match, if he hadn't had a sexual release with Luna, the night before. 

He'd asked her whether that was her real name, and she'd said, "Of course not! It's my werewolf name. I'd never tell anyone here my real name. What's your werewolf name?" 

"Erm," he'd stuttered, "Remus Lupin." She'd snorted into her drink. 

"How original. You know how many Remuses there are in this place tonight? Of course, there's a load of Lunas, too...." 

But then the conversation had been cut short and they'd gone up the stairs to one of the rooms set aside for this particular purpose, not caring about names any more, not caring about anything but their physical needs.... 

It made sense, when Remus thought about it. He didn't need to worry as much about hurting another werewolf, someone who was as strong as he was. But he'd felt a bit lonely and empty, lying in the grotty bed afterward (who knew the last time the sheets had been washed?) thinking of the first time he'd been with Lily. In spite of biting her, there had been a different feeling about the whole encounter. She was his friend, she'd had feelings for him, and she didn't run off afterward. She didn't give a false name and laugh at his _real_ name. He hadn't been able to continue this train of thought, however, as some other couple was pounding on the door, waiting (but not patiently) to use the same room. 

Remus smiled at Peter, glad that he'd been able to come to the match; he particularly missed the three of them hanging about with him during the full moon, and wasn't sure how to contact them and say, "You know how you all became Animagi to be with me...well, can we keep that up even though we're out of school?" Now that they weren't living with him, the three of them seemed to have forgotten about him. Once, during the summer, James and Sirius had invited him to visit them at Ascog, but it was a pure coincidence that it fell during the full moon. 

They finally reached the entrance hall; there weren't many other students coming down to lunch yet, as it was early. Nonetheless, Remus' nose was already picking up on the heavenly aromas emanating from the kitchens, thinking of the willing elves who would give them as much food as they wanted. 

The only other people in the hall were the Weasleys and--Remus felt like rubbing his eyes--Professor Trelawney, who was coming down the marble stairs, staring eerily at Bill Weasley's youngest sister. Soon Trelawney was crouching before the girl, whose hair was as red as her brothers' and father's, and the girl looked transfixed, staring back, as though she couldn't tear her eyes away if she'd tried. 

Bill frowned; he hated Trelawney and hadn't thought about what might happen if Peggy came to visit him at school. It certainly never occurred to him that Trelawney would come down out of her tower. She _never_ did that. 

But now, crouching before the six-year-old girl, her large owlish eyes magnified by her ridiculous glasses, she whispered mistily, "_I could feel that you were here._" 

As though this was some kind of trigger, Peggy froze and then, still staring, started to speak in a strange voice that did not sound like it was coming from her: 

"_In days to come the Dark Lord's fall is split by silver into gold. A triangle, each time, his bane. _

__

"One corner is a lion tall, of good intent, named for the coal; twice hidden, both a beast and man. 

"One corner comes from blood of yore, child of the silver moon so cold; Dark Lord's servant and lion's mate. 

"Last comes a flame-haired daughter of war, caught between silver and the gold; one of two and one of many. 

"The lion loves the daughter bright, as does the child of silver moon; but the Dark Lord's servant shall betray. 

_ "What though they flee before their fate, three shall bring forth the days of doom, and love shall end the Dark Lord's reign._" 

On the last word, Peggy collapsed in a heap on the stone floor. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thanks to Sarah for being my emergency beta reader for this chapter. Thanks also to everyone who commented on Chapter Nine! 

* * *

Join the Yahoo discussion group for this series of fics! Click on the above link to my author page to find the url. 

Please be a responsible reader and review! 


	11. The Moon Child

**Title:** The Lost Generation (1975-1982) (11/20)  
**Author name:** Barb  
**Author email:** psychic_serpent@yahoo.com  
**Category:** Mystery  
**Sub Category:** Romance  
**Keywords:** MWPP Lily Snape Bill Weasley  
**Rating:** R  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA, Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent, Harry Potter and the Time of Good Intentions  
**Summary:** Bill Weasley begins his education at Hogwarts in 1975, in the middle of Voldemort's reign of terror. He never suspects that the Gryffindor prefects he looks up to, Lily Evans and James Potter, will eventually have a son who saves the wizarding world, nor that the Weasley family will eventually play an important role in the Dark Lord's fall. All he knows is that in a very scary wizarding world, Hogwarts is a safe haven where he has always longed to be--until, that is, there are whispers of vampires and werewolves, of Death Eaters and traitors, and a Seeress pronounces a Prophecy which will shake the wizarding world to its very foundations....  
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. 

* * *

**The Lost Generation**

(1975-1982)

Chapter Eleven

** The Moonchild**

  
  
  
_Saturday, 4 November, 1978_

Bill and his father were at Peggy's side in a trice, while Annie and Charlie backed up in fear. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew pressed themselves against the wall, glancing at each other every so often. Remus didn't know what to think. He saw that Peter was pale as parchment, and he was visibly shaking. Yes, thought Remus; it _was_ a disturbing thing to see a child go into a trance like that and start speaking so strangely. But Peter looked positively petrified. 

_Child of the silver moon so cold...._

_Is she talking about me?_ both Remus and Peter wondered, afraid to speak, eyeing each other warily. 

Remus thought of one of the people he'd met at the werewolf pub, a man who used "Moonchild" for his werewolf name. For obvious reasons. _What has just happened here?_ Remus wondered. The fact that the girl had mentioned the moon repeatedly was making his blood run cold; he felt as though everyone in the hall knew he was a werewolf. _Did the girl know, somehow?_ Had she been talking about _him_? 

Peter watched Mr. Weasley scoop his daughter up into his arms and carry her up the marble stairs, his brow knit with worry. The other children followed. Peter heard the voice echoing in his head again: 

_The lion loves the daughter bright, as does the child of silver moon...._

He glanced at Remus, wishing he could read his mind. _Why does he look like that?_ Peter wondered. 

Remus assumed Mr. Weasley was taking the girl to the hospital wing. Trelawney was still in the entrance hall, standing transfixed at the foot of the stairs, watching the Weasleys go. Then she seemed to be staring into space, moving her lips soundlessly, and Remus panicked and thought she might be trying to jinx them, even though she wasn't looking at them, so he grabbed Peter's arm and pulled him outdoors again. Peter didn't seem to want to go; he struggled against him, but Remus' strength gave him no choice but to go along. 

"What do you reckon _that_ was all about?" Remus said to Peter when they were outside the castle doors again. Peter looked back, and Remus saw again the clear terror in his gaze. 

For his part, Peter wondered what Remus' expression could possibly mean. _No, Remus couldn't know about the dreams_, he thought. Peter hadn't told anyone. _But--what if some werewolf sense he has is telling him--something about me?_

The two young men looked at each other as though they were strangers, as though they hadn't lived in the same dorm for seven years. 

_Is he afraid of me?_ Remus wondered. 

_Does he suspect me?_ Peter worried. 

Remus tried not to dwell on the moon references in what the girl had said, but the words kept coming back to him. 

"I d-don't know what that was about," Peter stuttered. "Is the girl--a Seer?" His voice sounded oddly high-pitched to Remus. 

Remus shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. "I never heard Weasley mention it. She might be. If that's what I _think_ it was." Peter nodded absently, not looking at Remus. "I reckon," Remus said, "we should just be going back to the village for lunch...." He thought of his meager funds again. But suddenly, he wanted to get as far as he could from the castle. It no longer felt like a place of shelter and refuge for him, apart from the free food they could possibly get from the house elves.... 

Peter didn't seem to be paying any attention to him; he continued to stare at the castle doors. "Yeah, fine. See you." He started to moved back toward the doors. 

"Where are you going?" Remus said, trying to waken him from his trance. Peter looked blankly at him. 

"Visiting with McGonagall," he said after a moment's hesitation. "See you tomorrow..." 

Remus nodded, frowning. That didn't make any sense; Peter had never been particularly close to McGonagall in school. Until he finally mastered the Animagus Transfiguration, she had been rather hard on him at times, too. After that, being able to transfigure himself into a rat at will had given him a measure of confidence in her class that he'd lacked before, and he improved greatly. Still, he wasn't as quick as James and Sirius, and his transfigurations generally lacked Remus' artistic flair (he prided himself on that). _What's he going to talk to McGonagall about?_ he wondered, hearing the girl's words in his mind again. 

Remus walked back to the village, carrying his gloves in his left hand and putting his right hand back in his pocket with his money; he immediately pulled it hand out when the silver Sickles burnt his bare fingers, and put his gloves on again, sighing. _Why_ did wizards have to continue to use _real_ silver for their money? he thought irritably. As it was, the wizarding idea of how to manage werewolves involved locking them up in cells at the Ministry during the full moon; he was due to turn up at the Ministry at three o'clock, so there'd be no risk of his being out after the sun set and the moon rose. He sighed, longing for the days when he could roam free with his best friends. Unfortunately, they were too busy for him now, and he had to do this instead.... 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Peter hesitated before opening the heavy oaken door again; it had been over a week since he'd last had one of the dreams, but they were all very, very vivid in his mind. They had started near the end of the summer term, when he'd been preparing for his N.E.W.T.s. He hadn't been sleeping very much; Lily had the five of them working constantly on revision for the tests. He was certain that if it wasn't for her, he would have greatly disappointed his mother. As it was, he had the lowest marks of the five of them, but among the seventh years in general, his marks were perfectly respectable and he in fact had the tenth-best marks in the year. 

When he had managed to sleep during this time, he found himself falling immediately into his dreams without having to be unconscious for a long time. And while the dreams started off as the standard test-panic variety (falling asleep and missing all of the N.E.W.T.s, for instance, or sitting down to take them and discovering that he'd learnt all the wrong things or that the questions were all in Russian), they gradually evolved into other types of dreams. 

In one, he stood in a circle of tall, dark hooded figures while a taller, dark hooded figure addressed him in a hypnotic voice. 

"_We have here--the Moonchild._" 

And the hooded figures all repeated, as though in a trance, _Moonchild moonchild moonchild moonchild._

Then a pain greater than any he'd ever known pressed itself into his left arm, making him awake, gasping, holding his left arm with his right hand. 

His arm ached all day after that. 

Another recurring dream wasn't much better: He was at a funeral, and approaching the casket in a long line of mourners. When he finally reached the casket, he learned whom the funeral was for. 

He tried to back away, but something was drawing him on. He saw in horror the way her long red hair was spread out over the pink satin pillow slip, the way her long, thin white fingers were closed over the stem of a single white lily on her breast. He felt the tears cascading down his cheeks as he looked and looked at her, and then felt as though his heart were going to leap from his own chest as she suddenly sat up and opened her eyes, which were no longer green but solid orbs of obsidian. She opened her mouth to speak, but it was his own voice that he heard coming from her. 

_Why, Peter? Why?_

That was even worse than the other; each time he had that one, he awoke screaming. Sometimes there were variations on the two, such as a dream where the two dreams seemed to be overlapping. Sometimes the church in which the funeral was taking place had no other mourners, just a hall of chairs arranged in neat rows before the casket; each row was roped off and bore a sign on the rope saying, _No Moonchildren._ He found himself going from row to row, working his way toward the front, looking for one that said _Moonchild._ Except that once he was near the front again, she sat up with those dark eyes and asked him again, _Why, Peter? Why?_

He didn't know what any of it meant. After James and Lily had announced their engagement, he'd thought that it had something to do with anxiety about that, perhaps. And though the dreams had started before their engagement, he might simply have been anticipating it. But there were other odd things; wouldn't he be imagining _James_ dead if that were the reason for the dreams? he wondered. Unless--he felt that Lily was as out of reach to him now as though she were dead. That must be it, he reasoned. But why was she asking him _why?_ And what was the circle of dark, hooded figures? Why was he being called Moonchild there, and at the dream-funeral, and why did his arm hurt? 

He had arrived home from his final year in school on the day before his eighteenth birthday; he'd had a different dream that night, a dream where a tall red-haired woman whose face he could not see was leading him through corridor after misty corridor, saying, "_We're almost there, Peter, we'll be there soon_." And he followed along, trying to jog a little to catch up with her, so he could see her face. It was frustrating, because no matter what he did, he could not glimpse her visage. Finally, she approached a door; before opening it, she said to him, "_Do you know who is in the ninth circle? For whom the ninth circle is reserved?_ She opened the door and a fiery blast seemed to emanate from it, and before he could stop her, he felt her hand reach out and grab him, hurling him through the open door, into the furnace. 

As he fell, screaming, "_Lil-eeeeeeee_," he saw that the red-haired guide was a skeleton, and as he slowly descended, the bones collapsed into a heap, and he awoke in his bed, sweaty sheets wrapped around him... 

His hand fell from the door handle; he couldn't bring himself to enter, to find out what was happening. Instead, he ran down the castle steps again and round to the Quidditch pitch once more. It was deserted, and he was relieved to see no one. He pushed on, to the forest, the forest he'd learned about so intimately when he was a student. After he'd gone in far enough that he knew no one outside the stand of trees could see him, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the change, wincing at the pain, feeling himself become small and furry, feeling the long pink tail trail out behind him. He could feel the whiskers quivering on the tip of his pointed nose, and his animal's instincts pricked up, telling him whether he needed to fear any predators, or whether any choice morsels of food might be nearby. 

Unfortunately, there was no escaping the echoes of his dreams; although he was in a different form, the words still rang through his mind... 

_Moonchild moonchild moonchild moonchild._

And then his ears and another, more primal, animal sense pricked up, and he sat in the shadow of a log, very, very still. He listened intently for he knew not how many minutes as two creatures drew nearer. They were not _very_ near to him, but they weren't far enough away for his comfort, either. He raised his eyes tentatively, seeing two Centaurs stepping into a clearing about twenty feet ahead of him. _Centaurs!_ James had said he'd seen Centaurs in the forest, but Peter had never been swift enough to see what James and Sirius had seen; a stag and a large dog do not have such small legs, so many steps necessary to cover even a small distance. They had the advantage of long, swift strides. James could leap and run even faster than Sirius when he was in his Animagus form. But an advantage that Peter _did_ have was his size; he could be still and unobtrusive and blend into the background, unnoticed. At least, he hoped he could blend in, that he hadn't been noticed. He tried not to shake with fear as he watched the Centaurs from his hiding place. 

One was nodding at the other. "It has occurred," he was saying. "What we have seen in the stars is now known by men." 

The other Centaur shook his head. "No; they will not know what it means. They do not know how to read the signs, even when they are right before them." 

"That is not our concern; we merely observe the affairs of men." 

"The events foretold will affect all, eventually," the other Centaur cautioned him. 

"We will think on that when it is time," the first Centaur informed him, before marching off haughtily. The other Centaur turned and started to walk off in the other direction, but turned his head suddenly. 

_He's looking right at me!_ Peter thought in panic. _Do Centaurs know when humans are in animal form?_ He felt frozen, unsure of what he should do if he was discovered. 

But the Centaur blinked and turned away from him again, galloping back through the trees, the hoofbeats receding with distance until even the echo had finally faded and the forest was very quiet. 

The Centaurs gave Peter an odd feeling; he didn't have any doubt that they were speaking of what the girl had said. They had ways of knowing things, Centaurs did. No one understood it, but they just did. _She's a Seer,_ he thought. There could be no doubt. And what she'd said...it must have been a prophecy, something that the Centaurs had already seen in the stars. He didn't like the Centaurs, he'd decided; he wasn't sure whether they were friends, foes, or amused spectators who would look on humans being killed as a kind of entertainment. Peter ran out of the forest again but did not change from his rat form. Remembering that he hadn't eaten, he scurried back to the castle, and found a chink that he remembered between two large stones in the foundation; pushing through, he found that he was still able to get into the castle this way, as he had many times before. He was in a dungeon corridor, high up, and he gathered his courage to leap to the floor, his small rat's heart beating even more rapidly than usual. 

He found his way to the kitchens, remembering a shortcut he'd discovered when in his rat form before. He knew of even more secret passages than his mates because of his ability to travel through the castle this way. When he finally reached the kitchens, he turned up his nose at the food baiting the rat traps that sat under the large stone sinks along one wall, under windows that looked out upon the extensive grounds; he found his way down to the root cellar and located a nice potato; this small amount of food was oddly satisfying when he was a rat. 

_They can't get me here,_ he thought, chewing his potato with satisfaction. _The dark, hooded men can't get me here. I'll be safe._

He still couldn't get over the feeling that the little girl, Weasley's sister, had been speaking directly to him, telling him his fate, his destiny. _No,_ he thought stubbornly. He wasn't a brilliant Quidditch player like James, nor an Auror, which Lily would be when she completed her training. He wasn't popular like Sirius (especially with women) nor a stronger-than-human werewolf like Remus. He was just Peter; ordinary Peter. The only thing that had made him special before was being one of the Marauders. He was the friend of James, Sirius and Remus--they'd included _him._ He'd longed _always_ to be _extra_ordinary on his own merits, but had never thought what the cost might be. Now he knew. Now he knew.... 

He would find a way to write to his mother in the morning, tell her he was safe and well-fed, but would not be home for a while. It shouldn't be too difficult to get his hands on some parchment and a quill, and take a letter up to the Owlery. He would also send a letter to the _Prophet_, resigning from his job. 

_I'm not what she said I was,_ he insisted to himself, remembering the dream. _This is not how I want to be extraordinary_.... 

He heard her voice again, the red-haired woman in his dream: 

"_Do you know who is in the ninth circle?_

Peter knew. 

He tried not to think about it, but instead chewed his potato and looked around him at a few other rats who were scuttling about, who would help him blend in. He felt safe and sheltered, and thought that if he stayed here, as a rat, the world was far more likely to be safe and sheltered from _him_, as well. 

And so he hid in the depths of Hogwarts, and watched and waited. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bill stood next to Peggy's bed, biting the inside of his cheek with worry, until he had a welt that would bother him for more than a week. He looked at the door to Madam Pomfrey's office, where his father was speaking to the matron. Bill reached into the bowl on the table beside her bed and withdrew a warm cloth, wringing it out before placing it gently on Peggy's forehead. On the other side of the bed Charlie and Annie stood, looking anxious, and now Bill noticed that Annie had reached for Charlie's hand as they looked at their sister, and Charlie grasped it, looking down at her, trying to send some reassurance her way. 

The three of them had been looking at each other somewhat guiltily since Peggy had been brought into the infirmary by their father; all of them had seen evidence of Peggy's unusual gifts at some time or another. None of them had said anything to an adult about it. Now the feeling of guilt permeating the room was almost palpable. But what _should_ we have done? Bill wondered. _Oh, Mum and Dad, by the way, I think Peggy has the Sight. Can I have a new broomstick_? How did one talk about this sort of thing? 

Suddenly, the door leading out to the corridor opened and the last person Bill wanted to see entered: Professor Trelawney. He tried not to scowl, but it was difficult; somehow, he felt that her being in the entrance hall triggered something in Peggy and caused her to have the fit. He tried not to think about what Peggy had said; it was the ranting of a little girl, surely? But he had a strange feeling at the back of his mind, a feeling that that was just wishful thinking. And now--Trelawney. 

"Where is she?" Trelawney said, coming into the room with her wispy robes floating around her like dozens of scarves. Considering that the rest of the infirmary was empty, Bill thought this a remarkably stupid question. Peggy was the only patient, and he, Charlie and Annie were standing around her bed. How hard was this to figure out? 

But Trelawney clearly didn't think her question was daft; she seemed to _glide_ over to Peggy's bed, and stood at the foot, looking down at her, a small touch of resentment in her expression. It seemed to Bill that she was fighting to hide this. He was startled when the door to the office opened and his father emerged; Madam Pomfrey did not. 

His dad looked startled to see Professor Trelawney, and he stopped dead. She ignored the fact that he looked less than thrilled to see her. 

"You are the girl's father, I assume?" she said in her misty voice. He nodded, surveying her suspiciously. "I am Sibyll Trelawney, professor of Divination. Since you are her father, I need to speak with you on a quite urgent matter. Privately," she added, glancing at the three of them still standing about Peggy's bed. 

Bill looked at Peggy, whose expression when she was regarding Professor Trelawney wasn't any friendlier than Trelawney's when she'd been looking at the six-year-old. All Bill could think was, _This is really weird._

Arthur Weasley looked imperiously at the woman with the owlish eyes and misty voice. "Anything you have to say to me can be said in front of all of my children. The ones who are here, at any rate. Can you--can you tell me anything about what happened to my daughter downstairs?" 

"Yes," she said immediately. "Your daughter went into a trance and gave a Prophecy. It mentioned the fall of the Dark Lord, so I suspect that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named will know of it before long. That is why I need to speak to you in private." 

Bill's father looked very alarmed. "What?" he said simply, staring at the strange woman in disbelief. 

"What do you know about the Emperor Tiberius?" she said suddenly. Bill noticed his father swallow, remembering. Thanks to his dad, Bill knew all about this too, and he recalled how it was considered to be treason for a fortune-teller to predict the death of the emperor. Would You-Know-Who be the same way? Was he going to try to kill Peggy now? He put his hand over the warm cloth on her brow and looked down at her little face, seeing the fear behind the clear blue eyes. She looked up at him with love and trust, and Bill's heart felt like it had been put in a vise; she trusted him, her big brother, as she trusted Charlie and their mum and dad, and probably even Annie. But who were _they_? How could they stand up to a great dark wizard if he really wanted to get at Peggy? 

His father nodded at Trelawney, and she went on. "He takes prophecies concerning him very seriously indeed. Your daughter could be in great danger if he learns that she has done this. I don't believe that the Prophecy itself can be kept secret--I was unable to see who all was in the entrance hall and who left immediately afterward. But there _is_ a way to--_deflect_ attention from your daughter...." 

Arthur Weasley suddenly didn't care anymore that his son called this woman the biggest crackpot in the school; he was willing to entertain any suggestions she might have for keeping Peggy safe. He looked at her very alertly. "I will take credit for giving the Prophecy," she went on, lifting her chin, eyes glittering behind the large lenses. "Using some self-hypnosis I will be able to recall what she said and reproduce it precisely. None of these children here will tell anyone what really happened, and in fact, your sons will need to propagate the rumor that I am the one who gave the Prophecy." 

Bill looked at his father, surprised to see him looking back, as though soliciting his opinion on this. Bill swallowed; he was almost fifteen, but this was a level of responsibility he wasn't sure he was ready for. He widened his eyes while looking at his father and gave a very small shrug, as though to say _What's the harm_? If Voldemort was likely to target whoever gave the Prophecy--why not say it was Trelawney? 

Bill wondered whether she had an ulterior motive, though. She had a terrible reputation as a fraud; perhaps she thought the Prophecy had a good chance of being true, and hoped to finally take credit for doing something right. Bill glanced down at Peggy again, thinking that it might not be such a bad thing to help Trelawney feed her ego if it meant Peggy would be safe. 

"We'll all say it was you who did it, Professor," Bill said now, looking at her, hoping she thought his expression was deferential. She nodded to him. 

"Very good. It's for the best. But still--" She looked at Peggy, and her eyes widened. "Keep an eye on her," she finished ominously. Bill shivered; even though Trelawney was inordinately fond of predicting her students' deaths (and loved it when they predicted their own) this had a different feel to it. Peggy probably really _was_ at risk if anyone ever found out that she'd given the Prophecy. 

"And I'll write to the others who were in the entrance hall," Bill added. "There weren't that many people besides us. Just two, and I know them both. They were seventh years in Gryffindor last term. I'll take care of it. I'm sure they'll understand why--why no one can know about Peggy." 

Arthur Weasley looked at his eldest son; he felt very old suddenly, and Bill wasn't helping, appearing so mature and responsible. At the same time, his heart swelled with pride, seeing what a fine young man his eldest son had become. He worried sometimes, when his job took him into dangerous situations. More and more, when he and Perkins had gone on raids, they encountered rather belligerent witches and wizards, more than one of whom seemed to be connected to You-Know-Who. He worried about how Molly would manage if anything happened to him, but seeing Bill standing by Peggy's bedside made him feel for the first time that there was someone to step in and help Molly should the worst happen. He turned to face Pomfrey's office door, wiping an errant tear from his eye as he did so, knowing that Bill would be dreadfully embarrassed if he knew his dad was tearing up because he was proud of him. 

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey emerged from the office and stopped short when she saw Trelawney standing near Peggy's bed. 

"Sibyll," she said shortly, her lips pursed. _It's official_, Bill thought, trying very hard not to smile. _No one around here likes her. That must be why she never comes downstairs._

Trelawney nodded to the matron. "Poppy," she said quickly, snipping it off; it was the least-misty thing Bill had ever heard her say. The enmity was mutual. 

Pomfrey crossed her arms. "Forgive me, Sibyll, but I'm not overly fond of having a guest in my infirmary whose favorite pastime is predicting others' deaths. I have a patient to tend to, so if you don't mind..." 

Trelawney narrowed her eyes at Madam Pomfrey, but said nothing, just turned on her heel and left. She no longer seemed to glide; every slapping footstep sounded to Bill like a seal's tail on water. When she was gone, it was as though the room had been infused with a fresh supply of oxygen, and they all breathed easier. 

Bill looked down at Peggy again, refreshing the warm cloth on her brow. All that mattered was that she would be safe. He didn't care if Trelawney puffed herself up or if Voldemort came after their Divination professor. For a moment, _knowing_ that he didn't care what happened to Trelawney frightened him, and he felt a flicker of doubt.... He was glad that no one would know about Peggy, though. He reckoned that was how the Death Eaters operated; you might do anything to protect someone you loved, so they would discover who mattered to you and threaten them.... 

In his case, he hoped he never attracted the attention of the Death Eaters, as there were far too many people who mattered to him, mostly in his own family. If someone came after Trelawney--well, it had been her idea to take credit for the Prophecy, no one else's. It was her own lookout, or perhaps Professor Dumbledore's, as her headmaster. But certainly _his_ conscience was clear. His obligation was to his family and friends. He would do whatever was necessary to protect them. _Whatever_ was necessary. 

_If I have to strike a deal with the devil to protect Peggy,_ he thought, picturing Professor Trelawney with a pair of horns; _then strike a deal with the devil I will._

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_Saturday, 23 December, 1978_

Remus rolled over groggily and found that his hand didn't come into contact with another person, as he'd expected. His head on the pillow, he looked up, finding his companion of the night before on the other side of the room, buttoning robes, brushing them down fastidiously, making Remus smile. Those beautiful brown eyes then met Remus' before looking down and away, and a flush colored the skin below the eyes. Remus thought the shyness, even after they'd just spent the night together, was adorable. Until this relationship, he'd never slept with anyone when it wasn't the eve of the full moon, (he'd never had a real relationship, for that matter) and he had learned that that wasn't the only time he desired men. He also learned that he wasn't as strong and aggressive during sex when it wasn't the eve of the full moon, that he was capable of being a gentle and considerate lover, that his partner didn't always have to end up bitten and bleeding, or with broken limbs. 

He could hardly believe how his life had changed in less than two months. After he'd fled Hogwarts on the day of the Quidditch match, he'd gone back to London through the Floo network, hoping he could cadge a little money from Old Tom, at the Leaky Cauldron, or at least convince him to extend him a little credit. However, when he arrived, the pub had been strangely full and boisterous, as the Wimbourne Wasps were celebrating another Quidditch victory there, with Ludo Bagman, their famous Beater, the center of attention. 

Bagman was effusive, buying round after round for everyone in the house, and food too, so that Remus needed neither credit nor a loan. He sat at a corner table, trying to deny the envy gnawing away at him as he watched Bagman at the bar, bragging about the way he'd hit a Bludger right at the opposing team's Seeker as he was poised to catch the Snitch, which meant that the Wasps' Seeker had been able to swoop in and grab it instead, while the other Seeker plummeted to the ground. 

"Be in hospital a good month, he will!" one of Bagman's teammates crowed, slapping Bagman on his yellow and black striped back. Remus shook his head as he drank his stout; he wasn't above getting a free drink--and a meat pie--from a braggart, but he couldn't believe the other Wasps being so cavalier about the other Seeker's injuries. It was the nature of Quidditch that people were injured by Bludgers, and that it was the _job_ of the Beaters to hit the Bludgers at people. (When Remus thought about it, he realized that this amounted to a kind of legal foul, and thought it ironic that something that could kill you if done just right was legal, whereas an elbow in the ribs was not.) It was a built-in danger, part of the territory if you played Quidditch. Bagman had been doing his job and doing it well. Because of him, Remus had some stout to help take the edge off the panic he'd felt when Weasley's little sister had said _child of the moon..._

Suddenly, through the crowd, Remus had seen a face looking back at him, a familiar face. The other face smirked; a hand raised a glass to Remus. Remus nodded and continued to gaze at the familiar face, trying to place it. 

_Hufflepuff,_ he finally decided. _Our year. Twin sister is a Slytherin._

That was it. He was one of the two stranger people in their year: Emil Gaillard. His twin sister, Claudine, was one of the Slytherin girls who'd made Lily think she was her friend. But Remus had always liked Emil; they'd worked together in Herbology sometimes, and Remus found himself strangely transfixed now by the other young man's waving dark hair, his ironic, very Gallic smile, his shining dark eyes. 

Suddenly, Remus realized that the other young man had risen from his chair and was making his way across the room, stepping cautiously around the various celebrating members of the Wimbourne team, until he was standing at Remus' table, looking down at him. 

"Remus Lupin, right?" he'd asked cheerfully. He too was the beneficiary of Bagman's largesse, so it stood to reason he'd be in good spirits about the free food and drink. The Gaillards, despite their name, had no French accents, as they had grown up in England. Remus caught his breath; he remembered feeling oddly mesmerized by Gaillard when he was in school, especially before the full moon. Remus wasn't certain why he suddenly found the young man so compelling all over again. It could have been the nearness of the full moon, or the fact that Emil had a slight shadow on his face, as though he hadn't shaved that day, which gave him a slightly feral appearance whose appeal Remus couldn't deny. 

Whatever the reason, Remus suddenly found himself feeling a bit flustered, realizing that the odds that Emil would be interested in him were astronomical (_Not that I want him to be._), and that he'd probably only walked across to him to be polite. There was also the fact that Remus was clearly just about the only option a person in the Leaky Cauldron had if they didn't want to have a conversation about how wonderful the Wimbourne Wasps were, and Ludo Bagman in particular. Everyone else in the pub was rather single-mindedly worshipping the victorious team and its star Beater. Remus decided not to mention that one of his best friends, James Potter, had been on the English team that had lost the World Cup just a few months earlier. 

"Right. And you are--don't tell me--" Remus said, even though he remembered. He didn't want to seem too eager. _If he was interested in me, what would I do? Probably die of shock._

"Emil Gaillard," he said, grinning and holding out his hand. Remus shook it while trying not to melt into a puddle under his chair. _Damn,_ he thought. _Dimples. Forgot about them. Stop grinning already and get rid of those dimples!_

But Gaillard had not stopped grinning. He waved his glass at the assembled revelers, saying, "Do you believe this? You'd think they had won the World Cup, or done something that was actually _important._." He seemed unconcerned about a Wimbourne supporter hearing him and accusing him of blasphemy. If he didn't have his werewolf hearing, Remus would have had to strain to hear him over the noisy crowd. Taking a deep breath, Remus waved his hand as casually as possible at a chair next to his. 

"Join me?" 

"Thanks," Emil said briefly, putting down his glass and pulling out the chair. When he was seated, he took another sip of his drink and then looked at Remus. 

"You look all right. In school you used to look tired quite a lot. What're you doing these days?" 

_I'm busy denying that I'm in a prophecy concerning the biggest dark wizard bastard to come along in thirty-odd years. You?_

Remus shook himself, irritated, trying to get the girl out of his head. He thought Emil was probably referring to the fact that he was remarkably calm for once, despite the full moon coming in a matter of hours. He knew that he was relaxed because of Luna and the outlet she'd given him. That and the stout. But suddenly, sitting next to Emil, knowing that if he moved his leg a mere six inches to the left he'd bump the other man's leg, he wondered what would have happened if he'd gone off with the man he'd seen eyeing him from the end of the bar at the werewolf pub.... 

"Not much. Still looking for work. You?" 

"Ministry hack, of course. Thanks to my dad. Pushing a lot of papers about. Counting blades of grass is probably more stimulating," he laughed, taking a swig of his drink. Remus fought down a cough and also took a drink; somehow the word "stimulating" had had a stimulating effect on _him_, and he felt acutely embarrassed now. 

"Erm, sorry. I think I'd rather be a Ministry hack than jobless. Maybe something will open up in another department and you can transfer. Where are you now?" 

He sighed. "International Magical Cooperation." 

"Ah," Remus said, having no idea what working in that department would entail, so he couldn't even think of any halfway intelligent questions to ask about it. "Do you ever see anyone from other departments?" 

"Sure. Especially in the commissary. But everyone knows everyone else, and even my dad says he can't spend all day introducing me to everyone he knows, so when I go to lunch, I'm alone in this room full of people talking to each other, all of these conversations I can't join. It's a mess. _I'm_ a mess, and I feel completely stupid and useless." He sighed. "Sorry. Didn't mean to lay this on you. Tell you what--if I hear of any openings at the Ministry, I'll owl you, all right? Since you're looking for work." He stopped and laughed. "Now that I've made it sound so appealing and all." 

Remus laughed now too; Emil was engaging and funny and attractive and _oh hell, what do you think you're doing? Most women would kill to have him ask them out; he'd never go for blokes in a million years._ I don't go for blokes either, Remus reminded himself abruptly. And then, _Not usually._ Followed by: _Do I?_

He felt very confused suddenly; when he'd been attracted to boys before, it was always during his pre-full-moon mania. Or so he'd told himself. Now that being with Luna had calmed him down, his attraction to men should have waned. Shouldn't it? He looked at the young man sitting with him, drinking his stout with a smile, and then he realized that Emil had put his heavy glass down and that they were looking in each other's eyes intently. The other man wasn't looking away. 

_Oh my god,_ Remus thought. _I must be dreaming...._

Emil swallowed his drink and cleared his throat a little. "Erm, listen Remus. I--I wasn't really very open about this at school for--for obvious reasons--" He looked furtively around at the raucous crowd; no one seemed to be paying them any heed. "But, er, I was wondering whether--whether you'd like to get a drink sometime...." 

Remus smiled at him and laughed, raising his own stout. "Like this?" he said mischievously. Emil slapped one hand over his eyes. 

"Oh, god, I'm so stupid. You must think I'm the biggest--" 

"_No_," Remus said adamantly, putting his hand over the one Emil wasn't using to hold his drink, then guiltily pulling his hand back again, looking around to see whether anyone had noticed the brief contact their fingers had made. 

Emil looked at him, wide-eyed. "I--I was never sure about anyone in school. You don't like to ask, do you? I--I thought I saw you--saw you looking at--at someone once, and the way you--you looked at him made me think--just maybe--" 

Remus surveyed the bottom of his glass. "Just out of curiosity--who did you see me looking at?" 

"Virgil. Virgil Clifton. Or rather--he said something about it later, in our dorm. He said, 'Was Lupin ogling me during Herbology today?' Sounded a bit upset. I was glad I'd never let on that I'd ogled him, too. We did share a dorm for seven years. It wasn't like I had a choice of what to see sometimes. I suppose I was able to be a bit more subtle. I didn't really fancy him, mind you. I thought he was a pillock." 

Remus looked around furtively again. "So did I. I don't remember it, the ogling, but it's possible that it happened. That my--mind could have wandered. I certainly remember Virgil and--and what he looked like." 

Emil nodded and an adorable lopsided smile appeared on his face. Remus tried very hard to control himself when he saw that. "Pillock or not, Virgil had no idea how good he looked when--" He stopped and reddened. "Sorry. So--what about a drink sometime? As in some other time?" he added hopefully. 

Remus nodded, checking his watch. "Yeah. Unfortunately--I've got somewhere to be very soon. Appointment at the Ministry," he added, in case Emil wanted to follow him. It was true. 

"Oh! Job interview? Odd for it to be on the weekend, isn't it?" 

Remus shrugged. "Not really what I'd call an interview." That was the truth. He sighed inwardly. This was hard enough, making a connection with another man--which he hadn't even been aware of wanting to do until he'd met Emil's eyes across the room--without the added complication of his lycanthropy. He knew that he would have to tell anyone he wanted to date, male or female, especially after the horrid reaction Lily had had to finding out that he'd kept it from her, but somehow he felt like he wanted to put off telling Emil just a _little_ longer. At least until they weren't in a crowd of Quidditch revelers who might hear what the reason for Emil's bad reaction was--if he _had_ a bad reaction. They were all keyed up and drunk, and while Remus was strong, he had a healthy fear of the mob mentality and didn't want to know what this crowd was capable of if they suddenly learned that there was a werewolf in their midst, with the full moon due to rise within two hours.... 

"Oh," Emil said, looking a little disappointed. "You, erm, doing anything tonight?" 

"Yes," Remus said reluctantly. "For the next three nights I'm booked. I'm free after that, though. Why don't I owl you?" 

Emil looked like he was unconvinced this would happen, like Remus was just letting him down easy. "Sure," he said carelessly, running his fingers through his wavy dark hair. Remus felt a lump in his throat; he longed to reach out suddenly and do the same with his own hand, comb his fingers through the dark hair... 

He took a bite of meat pie to quell the rebellious thoughts he was having; in two bites, it was gone, and he stood to go. "Sorry I have to run. At least he," he said, nodding toward Bagman, "is good for something. I needed a drink and a meal, but I didn't need to be broke afterward, you know?" He grinned at Emil and was gratified this time when he saw the dimples reappear, rather than terror-struck. 

When the three nights in Ministry lock-up were over, Remus practically raced to the post office in Diagon Alley so he could send an owl to Emil. He'd arranged for his mail to go there while he was in Ministry custody, and there were two letters waiting for him, one from Peter, and one from Bill Weasley, of all people. Peter's letter was very short: 

_ Dear Remus, _

I'm going away for a little while. It may be months, actually. I've quit my job at the Prophet if you want it. I've told mum I'm going away, but if you could look in on her occasionally and make sure she's all right, I'd appreciate it. I'm writing to the others, too. Sorry this is so sudden. Thanks for meeting me to see the Quidditch game. If I don't see you before the end of the year, Happy Christmas and New Year. 

--Peter 

It was a decidedly odd letter, but then he read Bill's, which, if anything, was slightly odder still. 

_ To: Remus Lupin  
From: Bill Weasley _

I know you must think it peculiar for me to be writing to you, but it's kind of important. I told my dad I'd take care of contacting you. It's about what happened in the entrance hall at school on the day of the Quidditch match. We have all agreed that PROFESSOR TRELAWNEY said THOSE THINGS in the entrance hall and no one else. If you decide you want to talk about what happened that day with anyone, you should make certain that you are clear that it was PROFESSOR TRELAWNEY. It may not be the best idea to talk about it at all, come to that. 

Oh, and something weird happened when I tried to write to Peter Pettigrew about the same thing. The owl turned right around and came back. I must have tried ten times. Have you ever heard of that? So I don't know how to contact him and tell him the same. Since he's your friend, can you tell him when you see him? 

Thanks, 

Bill Weasley 

Remus thought that perhaps Peter had gone far enough away on his trip that the owl knew even before leaving that he or she couldn't manage such a long trip, so it didn't even bother. He thought then about the request in the letter, to say that Trelawney had said "those things," not Weasley's sister. Frankly, while he was in the Ministry lock-up, he'd put Weasley's sister out of his mind, forgetting everything but Emil, and he shrugged and did it again now. Fine. If anyone asked--he'd say he heard Trelawney saying the strange words in the entrance hall. Not that he wanted to think about the words, either. 

_Child of the moon._

He shook himself and thought about Emil again, a much happier thought. He began cheerfully to write a letter on one of the desks in the post office, and went to the window to pay for a good fast post-owl to deliver it for him. He left the post office with a skip in his step; he'd never felt this way before, had never known he could have this kind of optimism welling up from inside him, making him positively giddy. It was almost like being drunk, and Remus couldn't believe it when Emil Apparated to his parents' house that evening after work, so that they could discuss plans to go out. Thoughts of Peter, the Weasleys and pretty much the rest of the world fled his brain. 

Two days later they went out again. And three days after that. They were soon seeing each other three or four times a week. The first time, he'd told Emil that he didn't have his Apparition license, and he hadn't questioned it; they traveled by Floo wherever they needed to go. Not every witch or wizard felt comfortable with the idea of Apparating, and Emil didn't try to talk Remus into learning, so Remus didn't have to explain (yet) that he was a werewolf and _couldn't_ Apparate. 

They usually went to a wizarding pub in Brighton where the clientele just happened to be all gay witches and wizards. It was a very subdued place, where Remus had the feeling that they were all waiting for the other shoe to drop. Some of the couples held hands occasionally, but even that was a very open display of affection for that establishment. It was hardly a hotbed of wizards meeting wizards and witches meeting witches; it largely seemed to be people who were already in couples patronizing the place. 

Remus decided he didn't want Peter's old job after applying and being turned down because he told the manager at the _Prophet_ that he'd rather not give them his medical records. He managed instead to get a job doing manual labor for a Muggle businessman in Manchester, moving boxes in a warehouse. As he was very strong, he found it to be easy work. The man was paying him on the sly, off the books. Remus didn't care that it wasn't legal; he didn't have much choice. He didn't technically exist in the Muggle world, but with a little more money, he could possibly contact one of the many wizard businesses that produced forged Muggle documents to allow a wizard to have an official identity as a citizen of Britain. It was starting to look like his prospects of getting a job in the wizarding world were very dim. His medical records, required for any job worth having, stated very clearly that he was a lycanthrope, and there were a number of people to whom he didn't want to give this information, as he strongly suspected that they wouldn't hire him if they knew about it. And then they'd know his secret, on top of not having hired him. He was especially glad he hadn't given this information to anyone at the newspaper office. 

In the meantime, he took his pounds to Gringotts, converting the slips of paper into wizarding money and wincing at the exchange rate. He was actually able to treat Emil to a couple of dinners. They repeatedly returned to the Brighton pub by Floo, but Remus was starting to tire of the place, and after two weeks of seeing nothing with Emil but the inside of that establishment, he asked him whether they could just go for a walk in Brighton proper, get some fresh air. 

It was on the cold beach at Brighton that they kissed properly for the first time, two weeks after they'd started seeing each other. Remus had kissed Emil on the cheek after their first date, and similar exchanges had occurred since then, but nothing more other than some hugging. They were both very tentative with each other still. They transfigured their robes so that they looked like Muggle overcoats and went to see Brighton Pavilion. Remus threw his head back, taking it all in. 

"Pretty unbelievable, eh?" Emil said, putting his arm around his shoulder as they gazed at the huge central onion dome, the curling minarets that mimicked a sultan's palace. "You look cold," he whispered. "Here," he added, drawing out his wand and holding it to Remus' chest, muttering a soft spell Remus couldn't hear. Immediately, a warmth started to suffuse Remus' body. Emil put his wand away and tightened his arm around Remus, who looked up at him nervously. It was after dark and very few people were around, as it was just past mid-November. A cold wind swept in off the sea, but Remus wanted to go down to the ocean and really see what it was like. The only other time he'd been at the seaside before was that cold winter's day when James had scattered his parents' ashes at Penarth Promenade, and he wasn't sure whether to admit this to Emil and seem hopelessly provincial. 

The warmth stayed with him as they walked on the hard-packed sand, their arms around each other, the smell of the salt water in the air filling Remus' nostrils in a way nothing ever had before; he felt like he was _in_ the sea, surrounded by it. Not all of the smells were good; there was seaweed and rotting fish and old shellfish and waterlogged wood. But the way it all combined with the salt water and the neutral smell of the sand, all that sand, created a picture in Remus' mind of the sea which he would never forget. No matter how many times he went to the seaside for the rest of his life, he would remember the impression he had of it that first time, and a cold November night in Brighton would _be_ what the seaside was for him. 

Emil stopped suddenly and looked down at him; there was no moon tonight, or rather, it was the new moon. Remus felt calmer and more collected at this time of month than at any other. He thought the stars shone more brightly with no competition, and he pointed out the evening star to Emil, pulsing brightly in the eastern sky. 

"That's actually Venus," Emil said, his face very close to Remus', and then Remus didn't know anything else but the thrill of finally running his hands through Emil's hair, holding his head in place by lacing his fingers through those wonderfully soft curls while they kissed properly for the first time, after two weeks of tentatively coming very, very close--but never quite making it. 

Emil pulled back and looked down at Remus, who found it odd to not need to attack the other man. He wanted him, it was true--but during the new moon, it didn't feel like a desperation had taken hold of him. He remembered that Lily had once kissed him during the new moon, in a castle corridor. He'd been surprised by her suddenly doing that; he'd laced his hands into her hair and pulled her against him, but a minute later, he'd thrust her away. For a heavenly minute, it had been bliss; kissing the girl he loved without feeling insane and out of control. But then he knew that he had to use the self-control he had at that time of month and push her away, since he couldn't _really_ be with her.... 

Remus smiled up at Emil. Can I be with anyone? he wondered. Should I be doing this at all? He'll find out and he'll leave me. I can't do this to him-- 

"Everything all right?" Emil asked, putting his hand on his shoulder. "I mean, I kiss you, and then you get this look--" 

"Yeah," Remus said quickly. "Could we--um--could--" 

Emil smiled and leaned down again, and Remus groaned in the back of his throat, sliding his fingers into that hair once more. 

Everything was fine until two days before the next full moon. Remus wasn't quite in the grip of his mania yet, but he certainly felt like he had less control than during the new moon. He was also feeling incredibly frustrated because he wanted Emil dreadfully, but he was afraid; this was new and different for him, and he thought it possible that Emil had never done this before, either. It was definitely a case of the blind leading the blind. They'd kissed some more since that first time, and touched each other tentatively, through their clothes (they were always on the sand at Brighton, standing up, so there wasn't much more they could do). 

Remus had been going mad, so even though it was two days before the full moon, he went to the werewolf pub again and found it surprisingly busy with other people who were already starting to feel a bit restless, like him. Across the room, he saw a young man with dark, soulful eyes and curling dark brown hair. Remus was struck by how much he looked like Emil. The young man was looking right back at Remus, and finally, he rose and crossed the room, standing in front of him. The next thing he knew, they were in an upstairs room, attacking each other... 

Afterward, a part of him wished he hadn't done it, because after the fact, he felt that he'd cheated on Emil. Another part of him felt like it was research--he understood much more now. But doing it with a stranger--he'd felt so empty afterward, wishing he'd waited for Emil. Technically, he wasn't a virgin, hadn't been since he'd first slept with Lily in his fifth year. But in a way he was as inexperienced as any fifteen year old, at least when it came to being with another man. 

The next morning, he'd owled Emil to tell him that he was going away for four days. All the next day, he locked himself up in his room, determined not to weaken and go to the werewolf pub. He put himself in the Ministry lock-up for the full moon again, and when it was over, he sent Emil another owl, saying he was back and needed to see him. 

They'd been together for a month, except for the full moon. _So,_ Remus thought. _My first real relationship will have lasted for a month._ He was meeting Emil for lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, in a back room where they wouldn't be seen. Emil looked disturbed when he entered. 

"What is it?" he asked immediately. He saw the look on Remus' face and sat, groaning. "Oh, god. You're breaking up with me..." 

Remus drew his mouth into a line. "Well--not as such. I've got something to tell you, and then _you're_ probably going to break up with _me_...." 

Emil frowned at him. "What have you got to tell me? Why would it make me break up with you?" 

Remus swallowed and then confessed, gibbering about how stupid he was. To his surprise, Emil strode to him and pulled his body against his, lifting his head up to kiss him hungrily. Remus had wanted to tell him about the lycanthropy, but he hadn't been able to bring himself to do it before. _He's going to break up with me for this anyway_, he had thought; _why tell him something I don't want the world at large to know just when we're breaking up?_

When Emil broke the kiss, Remus looked at him in amazement. Everything moved very fast after that, more kissing, Remus telling him that he loved him, and then--that he was a werewolf. But oddly enough--it was his being bisexual that seemed to bother Emil more. Although he didn't dwell on it. He found himself coming back to the werewolf announcement. 

Emil had smirked ever so slightly. "God. That explains why you're so strong, doesn't it? And the red lights in your eyes. And--" 

Remus rolled his eyes. "--and why I can sometimes eat like there's no tomorrow. I know, James used to tease me--" 

"No," Emil replied, sounding breathless now. "Why--why I find you so damn sexy." 

Remus stopped dead at that. He had no words. But it wasn't necessary. Emil led him to the fireplace and they went to his house. ("My parents went out.") It was so strange, to be alone with him, in a house, to walk up the stairs behind him, to enter his bedroom... 

And in the morning, Emil's parents were completely blasé about it. "Oh, Remus and I were out at the pub last night and he'd had just a bit too much so I let him stay in my room. He couldn't have Apparated in the state he was in--" 

("I can't Apparate at all, remember?" Remus had whispered to him.) 

At the breakfast table, Mr. and Mrs. Gaillard were friendly and kind, but Emil's sister Claudine looked at the two of them suspiciously, and Remus guessed that being Emil's twin meant she was a bit more tuned in to him than their parents were. Remus made a mental note to watch out for her. She'd been a Slytherin. And she looked at him funny. 

But now it was established that, at times, Emil stayed at the Lupins' or Remus stayed at the Gaillards', and neither family commented upon it or questioned it (although Claudine looked sorely tempted at times). 

Remus turned on his side to watch Emil comb his hair now that he was finished dressing. He knew he had to get out of bed himself and do the same, but he was uncertain how to tell Emil that he was going to go to James' party by himself. He hadn't even told Emil about the party, which James was holding to celebrate Lily finishing her Auror training. Even though they'd been seeing each other for almost two months, Remus suddenly felt shy about introducing Emil to his friends, and explaining to them that he was attracted to both men and women, and that he was in particular attracted to Emil. It was too much too soon. Everything with Emil still felt so fragile, like he would slip away from his grasp if he wasn't careful, and he didn't want to risk that. 

"So where did you say you were going today?" Emil asked, his hand on the door knob. 

"Um, to James and Sirius' place. It's Sirius' parents' place, actually. No big deal. Just passing some time with the lads. Peter's not even going to be there. He's not back yet. No one can find him. It's really weird." But he shrugged nonchalantly, as though to indicate that he wasn't exactly worried about Peter. He was a big boy and could take care of himself. 

"All right," Emil said, sounding a little hurt that he hadn't received an invitation. "Have fun," he added, leaving the room. Remus moved around, getting dressed, trying not to feel guilty about not being ready to tell James, Lily and Sirius about this part of his life. It just--felt like a very separate thing from his friendship with them, and for a little while longer, he wanted to keep it that way. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lily _popped!_ into the entrance hall of Ascog Castle, then blinked and brushed down her robes; suddenly, she stopped, realizing that this reflex to clean herself up when traveling wasn't needed when she wasn't covered in dust because of the Floo Network. She'd learnt to Apparate and passed her test during her training, and wasn't quite used to the freedom it afforded her yet. A moment later, she heard two other people arrive by Floo; she stepped into the sitting room and saw Sam Bell emerge from the fireplace, followed by his very pregnant wife, Trina, who looked quite green after her trip. Unfortunately, Apparating wasn't an option for a pregnant woman, and Sam didn't want her to travel through the network by herself in her condition, so he hadn't Apparated. 

Lily gently led Trina into the large old kitchen and seated her at the long refectory table, fetching her a glass of water to drink. Sam sat next to her, stroking her brown curls affectionately, but Lily could also see that he was a bit on edge; the entire time she'd been training, he'd been distracted by his wife's pregnancy. All Aurors who'd been on the job more than five years were supposed to be involved in training new recruits one week a month, so in the three and a half months she'd trained, Sam had taught her class of would-be Aurors three times. Once it had been a classroom course in magical surveillance techniques; another time it had been a combat course, during which Lily had dueled with him and won, which she could see had shocked him--but she could also see that it was in part because of his distraction. He had congratulated her and held her up as an example to the rest of the class, but she noticed that after that, he also watched her out of the corner of his eye, as though she might attack him any time. 

And now she was done, and James wasn't playing for the Montrose Magpies on this day, either. Lily had found out just the night before, as she and James lay quietly together in her bed in London, that he'd been in hospital for two weeks after a match against the Wimbourne Wasps. He'd discreetly Apparated directly into her bedroom after her parents were in bed, as he also had his Apparition license now. 

"That damn Bagman," James had said, playing with her hair. "Most annoying Beater I've ever seen. MacFarlan was there, too, and Martha--I did mention that she's captain now? Anyway, Martha said he was shaking his head over us. Mind you, as head of Magical Games and Sports he's not supposed to show preferential treatment, but MacFarlan was a star on the Magpies for over ten years, and even though he's been with the Ministry for the last ten, I think he still expects to go to a Magpies game and see a win. Personally, after a game, I expect to be conscious and have a memory of what I _did_ that day, but you can't have everything..." 

Lily kissed his chest affectionately. "I'm glad you're all right. I'm sure you did fine. You're just not used to losing, even after the World Cup. It will happen to you sometimes, you know," she teased him, tweaking his nose between her thumb and forefinger. "Professional play is different. You know you love it. I just wish I'd _known_ you were in hospital." She sighed. "I don't know why they feel the need to isolate us all during our training. I _missed_ you so much it _hurt_..." 

She edged further up the mattress and leaned over to kiss him lightly; James, however, had different plans, holding her head in place and deepening the kiss. She pulled back slowly and smiled at him. "Is that supposed to show me that you're worth waiting for?" 

He smiled and nodded. "And to remind you of why you're marrying me." 

She laughed. "_That's_ not why, silly, although it's a nice fringe benefit." And soon they were both enjoying yet another fringe benefit... 

Lily rubbed Trina's back and looked at Sam, who was focused on his wife. "I can't imagine where the lads are. You stay here, I'll look upstairs." 

She found Mr. and Mrs. Black first, who hugged her warmly and congratulated her on finishing her Auror training. She was very fond of the Blacks, as they were the closest thing James had to parents now, other than his Aunt Othalie. Sirius' mother said that he and James were up in their room still. 

When she opened the door, James cried out, trying to shield a package from her view; she saw now that he was wrapping a present on his bed, and was just finishing tying the ribbon. 

"Don't look!" he cried. She immediately clapped her hand over her eyes. 

"What are you two still doing up here? Sam and Trina are waiting downstairs, and Remus will probably be here any minute. Managed to contact Peter yet?" she asked, her hand still over her eyes. 

"No. Although the owl didn't come back for me, as it did with the letters Weasley tried to send to him. Odd. Anyway, I was just finishing wrapping your present, and Sirius is in the shower. He'll be out presently." She took her hand down from her eyes and James seemed to forget about her not being able to see the present. 

He had no sooner spoken than the door to the en suite bath opened and Sirius emerged, still slightly damp, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, while he used another to do some preliminary hair drying. James wasn't thrilled by the way Lily immediately became speechless, looking at Sirius with her mouth open slightly, and he saw the way her eyes traveled down his chest to his legs. He wished she still had her hand in front of her eyes. 

Then she raised her eyes and noticed James watching her reaction, and felt herself flush. She smirked at Sirius and said lightly, "Are you sure you can't be talked into wearing a kilt for our wedding? _Both_ of you?" she added, thinking about James' legs. "Appropriate tartans, of course..." 

"_No!_" James and Sirius said in unison. "You're having all of those Muggles coming," James went on, "so we agreed that we're wearing Muggle suits. No robes, _suits._" 

"We said Muggle _clothes,_" Lily reminded him. "Kilts can also be thought of as Muggle clothes. I know some Scots wizards still favor kilts over robes, but they're considered Muggle clothing also--" She was finding it difficult not to laugh; they were so funny about this. She didn't really want them in kilts, she just liked winding them up. 

"_No kilts!_" James and Sirius chorused. 

"Well, if Sirius didn't walk around showing off, it wouldn't give me ideas..." She smirked evilly, looking very pointedly at Sirius' legs now. 

"All right, all right, move along--" James said, pushing her out of the room and closing the door after they were both on the landing. "Besides, Sirius has to get dressed, and--" 

"Oh, I don't mind if he dresses in front of me--" she started to say with wide-eyed mock-innocence, wondering how much longer she could wind up James before he hit his limit. James told her by suddenly covering her mouth with his and kissing her deeply. She shuddered and slid her arms up around his neck, pressing against him. 

When he finally pulled his mouth gently away from hers, she looked up at him with her large green eyes glittering. "Well," she said softly. "That'll teach _me._" 

She grinned at him and he grinned back. "You are a she-devil, Lily Evans." 

"And now a licensed Auror. A deadly combination." 

He laughed. "I'll say. Oh--damn. The present is still on the bed." He rapped on the door. 

"Don't come in, Lily!" Sirius' panicked voice said through the door. "I'm not decent." 

"When the hell are you ever _decent_?" his best friend joked. "Just do me a favor and bring the present when you come, all right? We're going downstairs," James told him. They went trippingly down the winding stone stairs, hand in hand, but when Lily was still half a flight up from the ground floor, she heard a moaning that suddenly made her pull her hand away and clutch her robes in her hands, rushing down the remaining stairs. 

James sprinted into the kitchen after her, finding her stooping next to Trina Bell, whom he hadn't yet met. There was a large puddle on the floor under Trina's chair, and her hazel eyes were wide and frightened. Her husband was rubbing her back, also looking panicked. 

"Um," Trina said, her hands covering her distended belly. "I think my water broke." 

"You _think_ your water broke!" Lily said, her voice rising in pitch. She turned to James, resisting the urge to tell him that he looked like a ninny, hovering in the doorway. "Go get Sirius' mum. Upstairs," she said tersely. James nodded and ran out of the room. 

He didn't care that Lily was ordering him around; he could only think, _Oh, god. Lily and I are getting married in six months, and the next thing you know she'll want to have a baby...._

For some reason, this hadn't occurred to him before. He just knew he wanted to be with Lily always when he proposed to her. It had been awkward and inarticulate, and she'd practically had to ask him, "Um, are you proposing to me, James?" to which he'd nodded dumbly. 

He found Callisto Black and gibbered out something about what was happening, and she immediately went into gear, pulling her wand out of her robes and making the sheets and blankets fly off her own bed; different sheets flew onto the bed from the wardrobe with another flick of her wand, and she turned to him and said tersely, "Get her up here. If her water's broke, there's no time to waste." 

James nodded and ran out of the room again, thinking how businesslike women suddenly became about this sort of thing. How could they do that, when another woman was suffering so? How could they be so dispassionate that way, when the thought of what Trina was going to do was tying his stomach in knots? 

The vigil seemed to last forever. Even though her water had broken, she wasn't having contractions at first. Callisto Black contacted the Bells' midwife, but she was busy delivering a baby in Bristol and couldn't come immediately. 

James had seen Lily swallow and whisper, "I--I suppose I could help. I just finished my Auror training, and they taught us a number of emergency medical procedures--including delivering a baby. And of course, Sam's an Auror, too." 

The midwife shook her head over that. "He's the father. He needs to keep her calm. And he needs to work at staying calm himself. You need to keep a cool head, girl, and make sure you remember your training. Can you do that for me? Until I can come?" 

Lily nodded, swallowing again; perhaps she wasn't being completely dispassionate. She was going to be responsible for overseeing Trina's labor until the midwife could come, along with Sirius' mother. She was eighteen years old and had only delivered a baby in a magical simulation. She was scared to death. 

James, Sirius and Walter Black paced the landing outside Sirius' parents' bedroom, and Remus joined them when he arrived. Lily, Callisto Black and Sam were in the room with her. It seemed forever before they were hearing a baby's cries; James tentatively opened the door a sliver and glanced in; Lily saw him and smiled beatifically, waving him into the room. Trina was collapsed on the bed, Sam mopping her brow with a cloth, while Callisto cleaned the baby and swaddled her. She handed the baby to Lily, who then handed her to Trina. When Trina immediately pulled down her blouse and put the baby to her breast, James wished he could drop through the floor and disappear. Lily laughed at his expression and hustled the other men out of the room again, wiping her face with exhaustion. Sweat trails ran down her cheeks, and her eyes had dark circles underneath. Somehow, it had become night and it was well past time for tea. No one had noticed, or made any food. 

She laughed tiredly and leaned against James, who gathered her into her arms and kissed her brow. "You were wonderful," he whispered to her. 

She lifted her face and frowned. "You weren't there. I was a dolt a lot of the time." 

James shook his head. "I don't care what you say. I contend that you were wonderful." 

She grinned at him now. "Watch it. I just may marry you if you keep that up." 

He grinned back. "I'll take my chances." 

Remus saw the love between them as they exchanged this bit of light-hearted banter; he couldn't help but smile and picture Emil, which immediately made him think, _Huh. I must be completely over Lily at last._ It was a strange thought, but he looked at her now, with James' arms around her, and felt oddly content, as though the world were coming round to being just right. He glanced at Sirius, who looked a little less content, but then Sirius had neither gainful employment nor a steady girlfriend, and Remus also wasn't sure how he would take the news of Remus' relationship with Emil. He'd groused about not being able to get in touch with Remus whenever he liked recently, even though Remus had pointedly refrained from complaining about _his_ lack of companionship during the full moons that had occurred since they'd left school. Sirius had always had a remarkable talent for being self-centered, Remus thought, and as much as he loved his friend, he couldn't deny that that talent was still much in evidence. 

A little later, they were down in the kitchen, having some tea and sandwiches, when Sam entered, tiptoeing, carrying a blanket-wrapped bundle in his arms. He sat next to Lily, a too-happy-for-words smile splitting his face. She peered into the bundle, seeing bright brownish-greenish eyes gazing back at her above a button nose, with a tuft of curling brown hair on the crown. The baby was rosy-cheeked and curious-looking, and Lily caught her breath, gazing at her. 

"Oh--Sam! She's so beautiful..." 

He nodded proudly at his daughter. "Would you like to hold her, Lily? The first baby you've ever delivered?" 

Lily smiled back at him and gently took the baby from him, feeling something inexplicable and primal move inside her as she held the small body against hers, felt the warm weight on her arms, both heavy and far too light, as though it could disappear at any moment. James was sitting on her other side, and she looked up into his eyes, feeling that she had never loved him more, and surprised by how much she wanted to have _his_ child. She also knew how that conversation with Bonnie had panicked him, but now--now he didn't look panicked at all. He gazed into her eyes lovingly, then down at the baby, and put out his finger tentatively, poking gently at the tiny curled fingers with the impossibly minuscule nails. The baby's hand reflexively reached out and grasped James' finger, and Lily looked at him again, shocked to see the expression on his face change. 

He looked at Lily, thinking that he had never loved her more, and that she had never been more beautiful than she was now, with that soft look on her face as she held the baby. He felt something move within him, too, and found that he couldn't look away from her, even as her eyes went back down to the baby again, who seemed determined to keep James' finger always. 

"Um, do you mind if I have my daughter back?" Sam asked, clearing his throat. Lily looked like she'd woken up, and she forced a laugh. 

"I'm sorry," she said, disconnecting James' finger from the tiny fist and handing Sam his daughter. Sam held her tightly, possessively, and James understood. _He may trust us, basically, but the fact remains that she's Sam's and his wife's. Their responsibility. Forever._

He swallowed, feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all again, but also having an incredible urge to carry Lily up to his room and make love to her.... 

"What's her name?" Lily asked, peering into the blankets as the tiny face was contorted into an adorable yawn that sent her insides spinning again, little fists flailing. 

"Kathryn. But she'll be Katie. Sort of named after her mum, since her full name's Katrina, but not exactly. One will be Katie and one Trina, to avoid confusion." 

Lily nodded. "That's nice." She looked into James' eyes again; the love she saw there was both empowering and frightening. 

"Some party, eh?" James said feebly, trying to make the moment a little less intense. She grinned at him and laced her fingers through his, wishing the following six months would hurry up and pass. 

"One I'm sure we'll never forget." 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_Thursday, 15 March, 1979_

"Hello?" Bill called uncertainly into the quiet forest. "I'm looking for--for Firenze. Firenze the Centaur. Hello?" 

Silence. 

After waiting for a few minutes, Bill walked on, his boots crunching dead leaves underfoot. He didn't hear any sounds not made by him. Which wasn't to say there weren't any. He didn't notice, for instance, the sound of a rat running on very small feet on a path parallel to his, but about twenty feet away. As far as Bill could tell, there were no other humans in the forest. 

He stared around at the legion of trees. It looked the same in all directions. He began to feel uneasy in the silence. He stared around some more. How do you get a Centaur to come to you? he wondered. What do Centaurs like? he asked himself. Fortune telling. Stargazing. Well, this was an opportunity to interpret a prophecy. One might even call it _The_ Prophecy. What Centaur wouldn't be interested in that? 

He and Charlie had pored over the Prophecy for hours on end. Bill had asked Professor Trelawney whether she had written it down, and she had allowed him to copy it from the parchment on which she'd recorded it, cautioning him again about _who_ had given it. Bill couldn't make head or tail of the thing, and, not realizing that he was speaking aloud, said to Charlie in frustration, "I'll bet one of the Centaurs could tell me what all this means." Bill had kept this from his dormmates, and from Jack and Geoff as well, as he couldn't tell any of them about his sister. Charlie had been there, so he knew, and at any rate, Peggy was also his sister. 

They were alone in the fourth year dorm and Charlie had been silent for some time. Finally, Bill heard a light snore coming from him, and realized that Charlie's eyes were closed, yet he still held the Divination text open on his lap, as though he was reading it. 

"I'm looking for help," he said loudly now, to whatever spirits of the forest might hear him, "interpreting a Prophecy about the Dark Lord's fall! I'm looking for Firenze the Centaur!" 

The echo of his voice died away. He looked up; he'd walked into a clearing, and he heard wingbeats overhead. An owl was flying toward the castle. Perhaps that's what he should have done, he thought. Sent a letter to the Centaur by owl-post. None of this wandering about the forest nonsense. He wasn't even supposed to be in here. 

He looked down from the sky again and screamed in surprise, practically jumping out of his skin. An enormous half-man, half-horse creature was standing before him, gazing at him calmly. He hadn't heard him enter the clearing. Could Centaurs Apparate? he wondered. He knew humans couldn't Apparate on the Hogwarts grounds, but did that include the forest? And he knew that house-elves could get around at Hogwarts with no problem. Their mode of travel evidently wasn't quite the same as Apparition. Perhaps the Centaurs had a Centaur version of Apparition that worked at Hogwarts. Or maybe he'd just been very quiet. 

"F-Firenze?" Bill said softly, uncertain whether there was some more formal protocol one should use for addressing a Centaur. He wasn't even sure whether he should be addressing _this_ Centaur, but for some reason the name "Firenze" had been written in the notebook where he'd recorded the Prophecy and his many theories about it. It wasn't in his handwriting and Charlie denied that it was his. 

"Yes. You have come to see me, William Weasley?" 

Bill refrained from asking how he knew his name. _Probably just one of those Centaur things._ "I have," he answered formally, to make up for his previous informality. It felt natural to do this in response to the dignified Centaur. He felt rather like he was being presented to the queen. 

"You said that you have a Prophecy...." 

"Yes. My--my teacher gave it..." 

The Centaur turned to go suddenly, and Bill panicked. 

"Where are you going?" he asked, his voice shaking. 

The Centaur did not turn around, but he did stop. 

"Do not lie to me." 

Bill shivered. Could he trust this being? Or was he a Creature? He couldn't remember what had been decided by the Ministry--or by the Centaurs themselves. 

"O-okay," he said, voice still shaking. "My--my little sister gave it. I think she--she may have the Sight." 

Firenze nodded sagely, turning around. "She does. We see things in the stars, and one of the unmistakable things the stars tell us is when a True Seer is born. Her words, even as a child, should not be taken lightly." 

Bill bobbed his head. "That's what I thought. Do you think--could you listen to the Prophecy and tell me what you think it all means?" 

He nodded again. "I think we have already seen some of this Prophecy in the stars, and in our scrying. But it is in fragments; perhaps what you have will help us to make sense of these fragments." 

"Right," he said, feeling odd that he might be helping the Centaurs, since he'd come to _them_ for help. "It starts like this: 

_"In days to come the Dark Lord's fall  
Is split by silver into gold.  
A Triangle, each time, his bane...."_

"Ah!" the Centaur said, looking displeased. "Bane is in this Prophecy. Pity." 

"What does it mean?" Bill asked him, perplexed. Unless he was joking, which, Bill realized, he probably was. He would have laughed politely, just to show that he recognized the joke, but it was a bit late now. 

"Give me the rest. Let me think on it." 

"All right." Bill continued: 

_"One corner is a Lion tall,  
Of good intent, named for the coal;  
Twice hidden, both a beast and man. _

__

One corner comes from blood of yore,  
Child of the silver Moon so cold,  
Dark Lord's servant and Lion's mate. 

Last comes a flame-haired Daughter of War,  
Caught between silver and the gold,  
One of two and one of many. 

The Lion loves the Daughter bright  
As does the Child of silver Moon.  
But the Dark Lord's servant shall betray. 

What though they flee before their fate,  
Three shall bring forth the days of doom,   
And Love shall end the Dark Lord's reign....

Bill looked up at Firenze expectantly. The Centaur was staring at the sky and frowning, pulling at his chin. After waiting several minutes, Bill cleared his throat. 

"Well?" he asked. "Any ideas?" 

The Centaur nodded, but looked a little distracted. "This would explain some things we have seen in the scry. There have been many omens lately concerning the Dark Lord's falls." 

"Fall," Bill corrected him automatically. Then he bit his tongue, but the Centaur didn't seem to mind. 

"Falls," he said again, unperturbed by Bill's interruption. "The first triplet clearly indicates that the Dark Lord will fall twice." 

Bill thought about the words again. "It does?" He furrowed his brow, puzzling over this. Then he thought about the words _A Triangle each time his bane._ "So three people will be responsible each time? Is that what it means?" 

"I believe so. The Three can be described the same way each time, if I am judging the rest of the Prophecy correctly." 

Bill was still frowning. "But what does 'is split by silver into gold' mean?" 

Firenze waved his hands as though this were self-evident. "What it says. The Dark Lord's fall is split by silver into gold." 

Bill shook his head. "What?" 

"The two times are split by silver into gold," the Centaur repeated reasonably, as though Bill would understand this better. The boy shook his head, still baffled. 

"Maybe we should move on," Bill said. "What about _One corner is a Lion tall, Of good intent, named for the coal; Twice hidden, both a beast and man._" 

Firenze nodded, looking at the sky. "There are, of course, two Lions. Or there will be. We have seen the signs. One will be like a father to the other." 

Bill squinted. "One of them isn't born yet?" 

"Yes. And his mate. _His_ number is five." He looked at the sky once more; Bill looked up too. It was growing dark. He saw Venus winking at him in the twilit sky. "The Lion's number is eleven," the Centaur added dreamily. 

"Eleven? What does that mean? Which Lion?" 

"Both of them," he said casually. What did it mean? Bill wondered. What did _Lion_ mean? He was a Gryffindor; they were all called Lions. If it meant someone from Gryffindor, that didn't narrow it down much. That covered roughly twenty-five percent of the wizarding world. The pronouns seemed to indicate that it was a male, but that only brought it down to twelve or thirteen percent of all wizards. 

Bill had no idea what to make of the 'eleven.' "How about the next part?" he said to Firenze. "_One corner comes from blood of yore, Child of the silver Moon so cold, Dark Lord's servant and Lion's mate._" 

"The Moon Child," Firenze said mistily, reminding Bill of Professor Trelawney. Then he had a sudden thought; he remembered the many hours of working on his own horoscope and star charts for Trelawney. 

"Wait," he said breathily, trying to get his thoughts out as quickly as he was having them. "Aren't people born under Cancer called Moon Children?" He looked up at the Centaur, who nodded at him with a smile. Bill felt he was really on to something. "And the Lion--what if that's a sign of the Zodiac too? What if it's someone born under Leo?" 

"It is someone--two someones--born under the sign of a Lion," he said placidly. How is that different from what I said? Bill wondered. It sounded so literal, like someone's mother having a sign with a lion hanging on the wall above where she was giving birth. "You know both the Lion and the Moon Child," the Centaur told him casually. 

"_What?_" Bill said, his voice rising in a squeak. He cleared his throat, embarrassed. "I _know_ them?" 

"And they know each other. Well. They have conspired together. They have been friends. And they love the same woman. The same will be true in the future." 

Bill shook his head. This was so confusing. "Is that the woman in the Prophecy?" Firenze nodded again. "The Daughter of War? Who is she?" 

"One of two and one of many," the Centaur said. 

"I know, that's what the Prophecy says. But what does it mean?" 

"There are two Daughters." Bill waited for more. What did _that_ mean? He hated to ask the same question again, but he felt the so-called answer had been clear as mud. 

"One of them is one of two and one of them is one of many?" Bill asked, getting a nod in return. He breathed a sigh of relief. He'd guessed something correctly. Not that it did much good... "What's the Daughter's number?" he asked now, even though he had yet to figure out what the Lions' and Moon Children's numbers meant. Firenze consulted the skies again. 

"We have seen their signs," he said quietly. "We have watched the movement of Mars. Red is the color of Mars, the color of war, the color of discord. Yet, together, the two Daughters make one. Together, they will bring Peace." 

"What?" 

"They make one. The two Daughters do not have the same number. If that were so, the Dark Lord would be utterly defeated by the first Triangle, or fail to be completely defeated by the second. The second Daughter also makes the second Triangle one. The three in that group make one. The three in the first Triangle make only half of a whole." 

"Half of a whole...because the job is only half done?" 

"And together--the six people make six." 

Bill didn't know why he was saying this. "Right--six people make six," he repeated. Was there a point to saying something so obvious? 

But Firenze nodded at him again, still staring at the skies. Then suddenly he looked very penetratingly at Bill, making him catch his breath. The Centaur had not looked at him so directly before. "Your family...." he said slowly, softly, almost menacingly. "From your family will come many who will fight the Dark Lord before he falls. Your youngest brother will march by the side of the second Lion. His number is also eleven. A Daughter of War will come from your family...." 

"_What?_" Bill squeaked again, but not--this time--because he did not understand. He understood all too well. _Was it Peggy? Or Annie?_ Then he realized that there were two Daughters of War. Were they both of his sisters? Was only one of his sisters the Daughter of War? 

"Who?" he asked. "Who is it?" 

The Centaur stared up at the sky some more, not answering him. Bill waited. But it was as though Firenze had forgotten why he was in the clearing and what he'd been doing there. "Curious," he said softly now. "Most curious...." 

Without another word, he turned and walked from the clearing, leaving Bill standing alone, staring after him. _Am I supposed to follow him?_ Somehow he didn't think so. It seemed that his time for consulting Firenze was over. 

_Your youngest brother will march by the side of the second Lion. The Daughter of War will come from your family...._

His youngest brother? That was Fred; George was born just before midnight on April 17, Fred just after midnight, on April 18. His heart ached; the twins weren't even quite a year old yet. _His number is also eleven._ What did the damn numbers mean? 

He turned to walk back through the forest, but it had grown very dark, so he lit the end of his wand. He walked carefully, but his mind was whirling with everything the Centaur had said, and he had a hard time paying attention to where he was walking. Only stumbling a few times, he at last reached the edge of the trees again. He was able to put his wand away once he was in the open; there was still a glow in the western sky, lighting his way back to the castle, and without the dark trees around him, he was able to see. As he strode up the sloping lawn, he thought again about his family. Peggy had given this Prophecy. Fred would march by the side of the second Lion. And either Peggy or Annie was the Daughter of War. As it had been Peggy giving the Prophecy, it seemed most likely that the one in the Prophecy was Annie. Annie was only eight years old! She would be nine in September, starting her sixth year at the village school in Hogsmeade. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. 

He swallowed, wondering whether to tell Charlie about this. Whether to tell his parents. What could he say to them? _Fred's going to be the right-hand man of one of the three people who's going to defeat Voldemort. Oh, and Annie will be one of them, too. Just thought you should know._

He shook his head; they'd all think he was barking mad. What could he do, drag them to the school and take them into the forest to talk to Firenze, so they'd know he wasn't out of his mind? He entered the castle and went to the Great Hall, sitting down in the middle of the Gryffindor table and staring at the banners on the high walls, at the rampant Gryffindor Lion. He thought of his baby brother, and his young sister, and wondered what on earth he should do.... 

Back in the forest, Firenze had been aware from the beginning that he had not one visitor, but two, and he decided that it was time to speak to the second one. He walked calmly through the trees, away from the clearing where Bill had consulted him, hearing the scuttling of tiny feet behind him, the rustling of leaves and brush on the forest floor. He reached another clearing, a large grassy one that had the reputation of being a fairy ring, and he stopped and turned, facing the direction in which he'd come. 

"Show yourself, wizard," he said sternly, looking with his keen eyes through the trees to where he knew his other visitor hid. A small animal crept out from behind the root of a tree, clearly trembling. It was a thin grey rat. "Do not speak to me but in your true form," the Centaur said, his eyes glittering. 

In the blink of an eye, the rat changed into a young man, hardly out of school for a year. He was a small man with a round belly and close-cropped colorless hair, his pointy noise making it seem like he might have neglected to completely leave his rat form behind. The young man was trembling. The Centaur looked at him sternly. 

"Why are you here?" His voice rang through the forest with authority, and the man knew now that when he'd been addressing Bill Weasley, the Centaur had been making an effort to be kind and gentle and non-threatening. He made no such attempt now. 

Peter shook violently. He had tried to steel himself to follow Bill Weasley, he had. He'd been hiding at Hogwarts for months, even taking up residence in the fourth-year Gryffindor dorm. It wasn't too bad, when he managed to avoid the large grey cat owned by Weasley's friend, Alex Wood. A thin blond boy by the name of Booth had adopted him and made a pet of him. Wood and Weasley didn't get along well with Booth and and _his_ best friend. Having Booth for a master had worked out very nicely for Peter, as he now had a rather easy time getting food (when he was hungry, which wasn't that often) and someone to protect him from Wood's cat. And he was able to find out whatever Bill and his brother knew about the Prophecy, since they didn't bother being careful about speaking around him. He could curl up on Booth's bed while Bill and Charlie were in the dorm, talking about the Prophecy, and they didn't care that he could hear everything, because he was just a rat. 

He'd panicked a bit when Bill had sent a letter to him, Peter, about his sister. Bill had evidently used a school owl, up in the Owlery, and when he'd come back downstairs to Gryffindor Tower and gone to his dorm, he'd discovered the same owl bashing itself against the window, trying to get into the dorm. Peter had shivered and run into a crack in the stone wall, afraid at first because owls preyed on rats, and then he was afraid for a different reason, when Bill opened the window and took the parchment from the owl, saying to his brother, "That's odd. The letter I wrote to Pettigrew has come back. Why do you suppose that is?" 

Charlie's brown eyes had gone very round, and the second year had said fearfully, "I've heard that when you try to send owls to dead people, they just come back. D'you reckon someone's killed him? Because he heard the Prophecy? Is everyone who's heard it going to start dying?" 

Bill Weasley had actually looked panicked about this for a second, his eyes very large as he stared back at his brother, holding the owl on his forearm. Then the older boy seemed to shake himself. "Don't be daft. Let me try again." 

He made certain the parchment was tied tight to the bird's leg and hurled it out the window. Peter watched as the owl wheeled in a circle and headed back to the dorm again, perching on the windowsill and glaring at Bill. 

"Damn!" Bill said, clearly getting quite annoyed. "The letter to Lupin didn't come back." He turned toward the window. "Are you sure you're a post owl and not just someone's stupid old pet?" he asked it. Bill and Charlie Weasley tried to shoo the owl away, tried to convince it to deliver its letter more than half a dozen additional times before giving up. Peter continued to watch nervously, knowing that the owl knew full well that he was there, somewhere in the room. Bill and Charlie had never suspected that the owl was doing precisely the right thing all along. It knew where to find Peter Pettigrew all right. 

He'd been very careful about transfiguring into his human form in the night and taking out Bill's Prophecy notebook, copying down the words there, then putting the parchment he'd written on into his robe pocket before transfiguring himself into a rat again and sleeping on the old trousers in Booth's wardrobe that he particularly liked. He also wrote the name "Firenze" into the margin of Bill's notebook, because he'd visited the forest on occasion since he'd returned to Hogwarts and he tracked several Centaurs, determining that Firenze was the best hope that Bill had. He'd waited and waited for Bill to go to the Centaurs, but still he did not. The dreams did not leave him, and finally, he had stood over Weasley in his human body and pointed his wand at him, unsure whether he could do it, shaking as he uttered the dread word: 

"_Imperio._" 

The next morning, Bill decided that he would go to the forest to see Firenze the Centaur. 

"I'll tell you why you are here, wizard," said the Centaur. "You are here because you have heard your own destiny, but you wish to contest it. Is that not correct?" 

He dared lift his eyes to the enormous creature speaking to him. "M-my destiny? How so?" he stuttered out. He didn't like the sound of that. 

"When you heard the Prophecy, it was not the first time you heard your destiny, was it? You have known before now, and you came to me hoping for a different answer. I cannot give you that. And now that you have shown your true form, I should call you by your true name," the Centaur said more conversationally now. 

"M-my true name?" He hadn't given the Centaur the name of Wormtail, rather than Peter Pettigrew, so he wasn't sure what was meant. 

"Yes, your true name, _Moon Child._" 

The small man trembled even more and sank to his knees. "No, no, no--" he chanted, remembering his dreams again. 

"Yes," said the Centaur. "You denied it, you didn't want to believe it, but when you heard the Prophecy, you knew it was telling your own fortune." 

_No, no, no,_ he screamed again, inside. The dreams filled his head.... 

"But--" he stammered, "--that means--" 

"That means that you know who the Daughter of War is." 

Peter sank down further. _No, no. Not her...._

One part of the Prophecy had been frighteningly clear to him from the start: 

_The lion loves the daughter bright, as does the child of silver moon...._

"You know whom it is you love. There can be no question..." 

And the lion. _James_, he thought. Who else could it be? James who had been the one responsible for Peter always being included, ever since their first year in school. James who was going to marry Lily, he reminded himself crossly. 

He looked up at the Centaur. "Are you sure?" 

Firenze nodded. "It is all part of the plan. The stars and planets move in their dance and care not for human concerns. This has been destined since the dawn of time, since before men and Centaurs looked at the skies and saw in them their own fates. Yours is not a pleasant part, this is true; but it is a necessary one. It is not for the faint of heart." 

Peter tried to think, _I'm a Gryffindor. I can do this. Only--_

"People will hate me. I'll probably hate myself..." His lip shook. 

"Quite possibly. If they find out...." 

Right, he thought. Maybe no one will ever know. 

"You know what you must do." 

_What you must do._

"Yes." He stared at the ground, feeling like he might throw up, but he hadn't eaten recently, so there was nothing in his stomach. He'd had the nightmares again the previous night, after putting the Imperius Curse on Weasley so that he would finally come to the forest. He lifted his eyes again, but the Centaur had mysteriously disappeared. He swallowed, then changed into a rat again to scurry out of the forest undetected by creatures who might like to prey upon a human. 

He knew that he could not deny his destiny. His mother had taught him that. He knew that what you are born to do, you do. He had often wondered why he'd been sorted into Gryffindor, but now he stopped wondering. When he'd been in school, he had flinched when they had dealt with many evil things in Defense Against the Dark Arts; he had feared to ride a broomstick the first time they'd learned; in fifth year; he had quaked and hidden behind his friends when Remus Lupin transformed into a werewolf, and his friends had been amazingly tolerant of him. He had screamed the loudest about the pain of the Animagus Transfiguration. Now he needed to be braver than he'd ever been. He needed to do two things which went against everything he believed in and held dear. 

Peter Pettigrew needed to betray the woman he loved. 

And he needed to approach You-Know-Who himself and convince him that he truly wanted to be a Death Eater. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thanks to Atlantis Potter, Aegeus and George Hobbes for beta reading. Thanks also to everyone who commented on Chapter Ten! 

* * *

Join the Yahoo discussion group for this series of fics! Click on the above link to my author page to find the url. 

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	12. New Lives

**Title:** The Lost Generation (1975-1982) (12/20)  
**Author name:** Barb  
**Author email:** psychic_serpent@yahoo.com  
**Category:** Mystery  
**Sub Category:** Romance  
**Keywords:** MWPP Lily Snape Bill Weasley  
**Rating:** R  
**Spoilers:** SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA, Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent, Harry Potter and the Time of Good Intentions  
**Summary:** The prequel to Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent. It is now 1979. Two events occur, one tragic, one happy, which have lasting consequences. Why doesn't Peggy want Molly to send them to Ottery St. Catchpole? What is she afraid of? Why will Molly, Charlie and Bill be haunted by this day for years to come? We see Peter recruited as a Death Eater, and the first task he is required to undertake to show his loyalty. Does he have the stomach for it? On a bright note, James and Lily marry (with loads of music!) and they learn that Sirius has finally become gainfully employed--and that he has a new hobby. If you've wondered about the events described by Molly in the second chapter of Harry Potter and the Time of Good Intentions, or why Snape attended the Potters' wedding (mentioned in _Psychic Serpent_), you will find answers within.   
**DISCLAIMER:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**The Lost Generation**

(1975-1982)

Chapter Twelve

** New Lives**

  
  
  
_Thursday, 12 April, 1979_

Bill was awoken early by a noise at his window. He tried to open his eyes, rubbing the bleariness of sleep from them. He saw and heard that Charlie was still snoring deeply, oblivious to the noise that had disturbed Bill. The banging kept on, and finally, Bill staggered to the window and opened it for the post owl that was trying to get his attention. 

"Sorry," he told it. "No food up here. Check the garden for mice," he suggested to it after removing a rolled up parchment from its ankle. He closed the window and sat down on his bed to read the letter; he knew it was from Juliet before he even unrolled it. She usually sent him owls in the early part of the morning, after he'd mentioned what a difficult time his siblings and even his mother gave him about it. (If she mussed his hair and sighed, "Ah, young love," one more time he was going to scream.) 

He smiled as he read the missive. He could hardly believe his good fortune that he and Juliet were a couple now. They couldn't go to Hogsmeade together, since there was a moratorium on Hogsmeade visits, and she lived clear across the country in a flat without a fireplace (she was Muggle-born), so they couldn't travel to each other's houses by the Floo network. (She had joked, "If they could connect our cooker to the network, I could try fitting into the oven. Perhaps the witch in 'Hansel and Gretel' was merely trying to send them on a trip?") 

It was very frustrating; they'd had to content themselves with walks round the lake when they were at school, and some furtive kissing behind one of the greenhouses. Charlie was especially bad about teasing him about Juliet; he seemed to think she'd stolen Bill from him. Alex was all right about it, surprisingly enough, telling him it was about bloody time, and Jack and Geoff tried to hide their envy about Juliet--neither of them had girlfriends yet. For Bill, it was a balancing act to see Juliet as much as he wanted to, see his brother as much as Charlie wanted him to, and to not alienate his three closest friends in the process. 

Something had fallen out of the letter when he'd unrolled it, and he picked it up from his bed now. It was a picture of Juliet at the seaside, when she was about ten years old. She'd asked him for a picture of himself when he was younger, since she hadn't known him then, and she'd promised to send one of herself also. She was very thin in the picture, frozen while waving to the person taking the picture with one hand while holding her hand over her eyes with the other, to shade them from the bright sun. She was next to a sand castle she'd evidently been working on. Bill stared at the picture, wondering whether, if he'd come across her on a beach when they were both ten, he'd suspect that she was a witch. 

He dropped the picture and shoved the parchment under his pillow when Peggy suddenly burst into the room. At the back of his mind, a familiar thought formed. _Oh, no,_ he groaned inwardly; _not again._

"Oh B-b-bill!" she sobbed, throwing herself at him. She crawled into his lap and he held her tightly, rocking her back and forth and shushing her. It had been the same every morning since he'd been home for the Easter holiday. Each day she came running into his room, terrified by some dream she'd had in the night, and would spend the first half-hour of the day sobbing. 

Charlie was woken by the noise now, and when he saw that it was Peggy again, he groaned and rolled over, put his pillow on top of his head, holding it in place with his arm. Bill looked down at Peggy with concern. "Pegs," he said affectionately, drying her tears. "What's going on? Why are you like this every morning since we've been home?" She hiccoughed and wouldn't say anything, ducking her head down below his chin. He sighed. "I think I should tell mum, so she--" 

"No!" Peggy said suddenly. He was surprised by her vehement reaction. 

"Why not?" 

She sniffed deeply. "Because...it's Mum who does it. And I don't know _why_, because I thought she loved us...." 

Bill sat up; this didn't sound like a bad dream anymore. _Oh, god...what's she Seen now?_ he wondered. _Something our mum's going to do...._

"Sssh, Peggy. Mum would never do anything to hurt you, nor any of us..." 

"Not hurt. And not all of us. Just me and Annie." 

He shook his head. "What are you talking about? What do you think Mum is going to do to you and Annie?" He tried to be jocular about this. "Wizards don't do arranged marriages much anymore in this country, so that can't be it...." 

Peggy just shook her head and then leaned her cheek on his chest. She put her little arms around his shoulders and said softly, "I'll miss you, Bill." 

"Miss me! I'm going to be home again before you know it. The summer term will just speed by..." 

She sniffed. "That's not what I mean," she said softly into his shirt. He held her bony little body against him, wondering what could be giving her such a fright. Peggy just wasn't like other children, and it was no good to try to gauge her behavior based on any other model. Even Annie was an open book compared to Peggy. Annie was always very clear about everything she thought or felt. And Annie didn't see tantalizing and sometimes terrifying glimpses of the future... 

They sat quietly for a while, until their mother finally bellowed up the stairs, "What do I have to do to get you lot out of bed and down here for breakfast? Or were you all expecting room service?" 

Bill grimaced; their mum had been very edgy lately. He wondered whether she'd been getting quite hacked off at Peggy, and now Peggy was terrified of her own mother. The twins were more of a handful than ever as they approached their first birthday. They'd been walking for a month, his mother had informed him, and getting into everything they shouldn't, despite their parents' precautions. 

"Just when I think I have every possible thing shielded with a charm, they find something to get into..." his mother was saying just the night before, her head on her hand as she sat wearily at the kitchen table, drinking a rare cup of tea. 

Their usual source of entertainment, however, was Percy. Within an hour of Bill and Charlie's arrival the previous Saturday, Percy, just over two-and-a-half now, was crying over his stuffed bear being spewed on by Fred, and several minutes later, his hair was being pulled mercilessly by a giggling George, who was clapping his hands over this even after their mother had taken poor Percy into her arms to cuddle and comfort him, after she cleaned Fred's sick off the bear. Even though they were more than a year younger than him, Percy always seemed to be the one bellowing because a toy he'd been playing with was plucked out of his hands or broken by one or both of the twins. Bill never saw the twins cry or look unhappy in any way; they seemed to live in a world of perpetual glee due to their having Percy to amuse them. Percy looked far less happy about this than they did, and their mother was clearly at her wit's end. 

Bill kissed Peggy on the top of the head and packed her off to her room to get dressed. When she was gone, Charlie sat up on his elbows and asked, "Don't you think we ought to tell Mum and Dad about her? She's been in here every morning." He looked uncharacteristically serious for Charlie. 

Bill shook his head. "Can you imagine talking to Mum about something like this right now? She'd bite the head off anyone who tried." 

Charlie nodded as he threw back his bed covers. "Good point. God. I've spent the entire holiday just trying to find ways to avoid her. And the twins. Right little buggers, aren't they? Tell me again why Mum and Dad had them?" 

Bill opened and closed bureau drawers, searching for clean socks. He sighed. "The theory was that the baby would be a mate for Percy. Not two little pests who would gang up on him." 

"And Mum. I've never seen her so--" 

"Yeah. I know." 

They finished dressing in silence and descended the rickety, winding stairs to the Burrow's messy, comfortable kitchen. Everything was going along fine until, just as he was putting the last spoonful of porridge into his mouth, Annie, who'd been swinging her legs under the table, accidentally kicked Charlie in the shins. 

"Hey!" he immediately responded, and before anyone knew what was happening, Charlie was using his spoon as a catapult to hurl a dollop of porridge at Annie. 

"Charlie!" their mother exclaimed from the cooker, where she was watching a fork moving about by itself, scrambling some eggs for the twins. "Look what you've done!" 

Annie had a sticky, gleaming bit of porridge in her fringe, dripping down onto her nose. The look she gave Charlie was murderous, and she picked up her own spoon now. 

"But Mum!" Charlie protested. "She kicked me! Hey!" he added, as Annie's ammunition reached him. Now he had porridge in _his_ hair. 

"Charlie and Annie Weasley! I have enough to do around here without the pair of you giving me even more work!" She waved her wand at each of them, cleaning them up. Just then, the twins, on either side of Percy, each grabbed one of his hands and put his fingers in their respective mouths, biting with their new teeth. Percy's howls now filled the kitchen. Molly Weasley threw up her hands. She strode to the mantle and opened a small jar there and withdrew a wrinkled five-pound note. 

"Here, Bill," she said, giving it to him. "The last bit of Muggle money I have on hand. Take Charlie, Annie and Peggy into the village for the day. You can use that to get some pasties for lunch. Go to Fillmore's, in the High Street. They're good." She looked very weary. Bill was amazed; he knew that five pounds in Muggle money was about one Galleon in wizarding money. He'd never had a Galleon in his possession in his entire life, nor its equivalent. His mother had carried the money when they'd shopped for their school things in Diagon Alley, and he'd been shocked by the fact that his wand was over six Galleons. It seemed like a fortune. 

Suddenly, they all realized that Peggy was sitting at the table with tears streaming down her cheeks, her spoon half-way to her mouth, the porridge dribbling back into the bowl. "What's the matter with you?" their mother snapped at her impatiently. Bill winced; their mum _really_ needed a holiday. It was just as well he and Charlie and the girls would be going to the village. 

"P-please, Mummy. D-don't send us a-a-away!" she pleaded through her tears. Their mother looked even more impatient. 

"Don't you start, now. You and Annie can play with some nice little Muggle girls in the park. The Muggle schools are also having their Easter holiday, so there should be plenty of children there. You're always saying you'd like to have other playmates..." she muttered as she took the eggs from the stove and divided them into two identical bowls and set them before the twins. 

"B-but M-m-mummy," Peggy stuttered, her sobs making it almost impossible for her to speak, her eyes streaming. 

"Not another word!" Molly Weasley said imperiously; Bill knew his mother wasn't going to budge. Peggy scrambled out of her chair and ran to her mother, throwing her arms around her waist. 

"I don't want to go, Mummy! Don't make me go!" she sobbed into her mother's apron. Bill gently pried her fingers from the cloth and pulled her to him. 

"It'll be fine, Pegs. We'll have a nice day out, some lovely pasties for lunch, and a beautiful park to play in. You like the swings, don't you? You're a great girl now; I'll teach you how to do it yourself..." 

She looked at Bill with large blue eyes, very wet from crying. Looking in her eyes was like looking in a mirror for him. "I already know how," she said softly. "Learned last month, finally." Bill nodded; Annie had been teasing her for the better part of a year about not being able to use the swings without being pushed by someone; Annie had been able to do this since she was four. 

"That's good! You can get more practice." 

She looked up pleadingly at her mother one last time, but said nothing. Bill saw that his mother was softening somewhat. She stooped down and held Peggy's thin shoulders. "Tell you what, Peggy-pumpkin, I'll give you a cheering charm and you'll be right as rain and ready to enjoy a day out..." She waved her wand over her daughter and moments later, Peggy was smiling sunnily and skipping to the door, ready to go. Molly Weasley watched her. "I don't normally like to do that," she confided to Bill. "I think we should all be responsible for our own happiness, without resorting to charms to make us think we're happier than we are. But just this once..." 

Bill smiled at his mother. "We'll all be fine. Try not to go mad while we're gone, yeah?" 

She pecked him on the cheek. "Thank you--and you too, Charlie--" she added, "for taking the girls today. When the wee ones are napping I may actually be able to do the same..." 

"Don't worry, Mum. We'll be home for tea," Bill told her. "Until then, you have four fewer people to worry about." 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The weather was uncharacteristically warm and they had a fine day in the park. Charlie and Bill had made the acquaintance of some boys who were playing football, and Annie and Peggy spent most of their time on the swings and playing jump rope. They also met up with some Muggle girls who were pushing dolls in small prams, and soon all of the girls were sitting on a bench, changing the dolls' many outfits. Bill could usually see them out of the corner of his eye, when the football action wasn't too hectic. 

As at Quidditch, Charlie proved a natural, but Bill kept forgetting not to touch the ball with his hands, like a Quaffle. The four of them went walking down the High Street just after noon and bought some pasties at the shop their mother had recommended, taking them back to the park to eat, sitting on stone benches near the duck pond and throwing bits of crust to the ducks who begged the most adamantly. 

The afternoon was much like the morning, except that Bill felt more like he was getting the hang of football. He glanced at the swings, where Annie and Peggy were moving in perfect synchronicity. Someone on the other team sped by him with the ball and he raced to intercept them, wishing he was on a broomstick. Another player, trying to do the same thing, wound up fouling the boy in possession of the ball. An older boy who was acting as referee blew a whistle and Bill turned again to look at his sisters, but he didn't see them this time. It was no more than a minute or two since he'd last looked, but now the swings they'd been on were swaying back and forth at exactly the same speed--only without his sisters. 

Bill looked round the park quickly, spotting a number of other children, some of whom he'd seen playing with his sisters earlier. _I'll look in a minute, if they don't show up, which they probably will,_ he thought. He turned and started running when his team's goalie caught the penalty kick; he felt great, running down the field, the spring air in his lungs. He didn't know when he'd had such a good day. 

However, when the girls didn't rematerialize ten minutes later, Bill jogged over to where Charlie was. His brother wore on his face a grim combination of concentration and determination that Bill recognized from when Charlie played Quidditch. He was bobbing on the balls of his feet, watching his teammates passing the ball, then one of them dribbling toward him with it. Bill said his name repeatedly, but Charlie didn't seem to hear him. Finally, Bill took his shoulders and shouted in his face, "_Charlie!_" 

The ball hit Bill in the back of the knee and he thought he was going to fall over; it had been kicked very hard and made his leg buckle for a moment. When the ball bounced off him it was intercepted by a player from the other team, who started toward the goal. 

"Sod off, Bill! What do you think you're doing? You just made me miss that pass!" 

"Annie and Peggy aren't where they were. It's been about ten minutes since I've seen them. We should look about." 

Charlie looked like he couldn't believe this was the reason for what Bill had done. "Ten minutes? Are you mental? They probably went to play with some Mugg--I mean, some village girls. I'll bet they're all off somewhere dressing up their ruddy dolls..." 

"Still--we should look," Bill insisted. Charlie glared at him, then turned with a sigh and called to the boy who was captaining their team, "We have to go! Have to look for my stupid little sisters!" 

The other boy waved them on. "I know what you mean. I have _four_ little sisters. S'okay. You still home from school tomorrow?" 

"Yeah!" 

"Come on down again. We'll all be here." The other boy, who had sandy hair and tan freckles, a slightly large nose and a good deal of acne, said wonderingly, "I can't believe you've never played football until today. I thought you said you go to boarding school? What boarding school doesn't have football?" 

"Erm," Charlie said awkwardly. "I didn't say our school doesn't have football; I said _I'd_ never played. Which is true." He also hadn't said that his school _had_ football. 

The sandy-haired boy grinned at him. "Well, when you get back, you should think about trying out for the team!" 

Charlie gave Bill a sly smile. "I just might do that," he said. Bill wondered what the boy would do if he saw a Quidditch match. _As he's a Muggle, he'd probably drop dead in shock just from seeing people riding broomsticks._

They started scouring the park for the girls, walking over every path, but did not find them. Near the swings Bill found one of Annie's hair ribbons, but nothing else. 

"When's the last time you saw them?" Charlie asked Bill. 

"Just before that penalty kick. They were on the swings." 

Charlie looked thoughtful. "You know what _I'd_ do..." 

"What?" 

"Let me finish. What _I'd_ do if I were _them_ is go home on my own, to make us look bad. I'll just bet that's what they did, and they're home now enjoying their tea and having a good laugh!" 

Bill frowned. "I reckon they _might_ be home. They certainly don't seem to be in the park." He sighed. "Let's go. You're probably right--I'll bet they went home without us." 

They walked back to the Burrow, tired in a good playing-instead-of-working all day sort of way. They stumbled into the Burrow and Charlie immediately started bellowing, "All right, you little devils! Where are you hiding?" 

"_Ssssh_!" their mother immediately hissed at him, from her rocker near the fire, where she was doing her own knitting for once. Although she said she found knitting relaxing, she rarely had the luxury of enough time to indulge in this, and they were accustomed to seeing her charmed knitting needles hovering above her basket of wool methodically knitting, knitting, knitting. They all had numerous jumpers their mother had made for them; for Christmas, Bill had received one in Gryffindor colors of red with a gold "B" on it. Charlie's jumper was ochre with a maroon "C" on it, which, with his red hair and brown eyes made him look very autumnal. "I have masses of maroon wool, but I hate the thought of making an entire sweater out of it," she had said when they'd been home at Christmas. "I expect that someday I might, but thankfully, I have a good supply of other colors until then..." 

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, pausing in her knitting. "I've only just put the twins and Percy in their cots, and for once I've a little time to sit and enjoy the quiet." Somehow, Bill had suspected she wouldn't actually take a nap. "Where are the girls?" 

Bill and Charlie looked at each other. "Erm," Bill said, taking it upon himself to answer, as he was the eldest. "We--we thought they were here. That they'd come back on their own. We--we couldn't find them in the park anywhere." 

Their mother dropped her knitting and stood abruptly, so that the ball of wool that had been sitting on her lap went rolling across the floor. "You have to go back," she said tersely. "Go back and look some more. I'll contact your father." 

Bill and Charlie looked at each other and swallowed. As they were leaving, they saw their mother toss some Floo powder into the kitchen fire and say clearly, "Arthur Weasley, Ministry of Magic, Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office." 

Bill and Charlie ran back to the village, barely pausing to catch their breaths. It was the hour of the day when most of the villagers had their tea, it seemed, and there was almost no one on the street. A lone car went through the roundabout they needed to go past to get to the park; it seemed to be moving very fast when it was in fact going rather slowly, a concession to the curve. To Bill, all Muggle automobiles went far too fast. They unnerved him. He'd almost leapt into Charlie's arms when they'd been walking down the High Street to get their pasties and a very fast red convertible had sped by, almost clipping his heels as he scrambled for the pavement. 

"You don't suppose--could they have been hit by an automobile?" 

Charlie rolled his eyes. "There would have been a bit of a fuss if two girls were hit by a car, don't you think? Please-men and ambulances and so on. We'd have heard those noises the please-cars and ambulances make. And Bill, can you say 'car' like the Muggles, please? Do you want to make all of the Muggles think you're weird, even _without_ knowing you're a wiz--" 

"_Ssssh_!" Bill hissed at him. "While you're at it, could you not mention what _we_ are, and stop using the "M" word? You should talk, when it comes to Mug--erm, terms used by people who aren't like us. At least _some_ people in Ottery St. Catchpole probably still say 'automobile.' I doubt anyone says 'please-men.' It's 'policemen,' stupid, not 'please men.'" His head hurt and he felt like he was being distracted by the nit-picking the two of them were doing. "Bloody hell, Charlie, we have to think! Where could they be?" 

Charlie looked weary and somewhat guilty. "I don't know, Bill. I wish--I wish we'd paid better attention to them...." 

Bill nodded grimly. "Me too. Okay, you take the half over by the duck pond, I'll take the area from the swings to the other edge of the park. Give a yell if you find _anything_, any clue at all." 

"Right," Charlie said, moving off, looking like he wished he could do so wand in hand. Bill flexed his right hand, also feeling like it was empty and wishing there was no Restriction on Underage Magic. He strode toward the swings and began looking for some indication of what had happened to his sisters. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"So--what do you think?" 

Lily looked at James anxiously. He bit his lip. "A bit smarmy. Do we have to have some bloke who thinks he's Sumatra--?" 

"_Sinatra_. Sumatra is a place. And yes; I want to dance with my dad to his favorite Sinatra tune. What can I say? Mum and dad raised me to love the music they love, and that means a lot of standards from the fifties and late forties, including some big band music. We'll have some more contemporary Muggle music as well. They do tunes from the nineteen-forties up to and including disco, they claim." She sighed. "It seems that Mum and Dad are inviting everyone with whom they ever went to school or uni, plus a number of people Mum has met when she's been in hospital.. And some of their friends' kids, as well. So don't worry--we won't just have ancient music." 

"But--but--none of this is ever heard on the Wizarding Wireless!" James said, holding up the cassette tape to which he and Lily had just been listening. 

"Yes, well--we'll just have to live with that," she said with only a slight shake in her voice as she tried to suppress her laughter. James was being completely serious, and she couldn't bear to hurt him. 

He sighed. "I reckon we will. All right, they don't sound _too_ bad. The girl who sang some of the songs was good. At least she's not pretending to be someone else, like the phony Sinatra fellow." 

"Actually, I rather thought she was trying to sound like Rosemary Clooney, and sometimes Ella Fitzgerald. She didn't quite pull it off, but few people can do that..." 

"She sounded like _who_?" 

She smiled at him. "Just ask my dad. He can show you his record collection. He's nurtured it since he was fifteen. Honest. Mum thinks that if there was a fire, he'd get all of his precious vinyl discs out of the place first and then ask after us." 

James looked horrified. "That's awful!" 

Lily looked at him as though he were daft. "I was _kidding_, James. It's just--to show how much he loves those records." James looked like he felt rather foolish. "At any rate, I think we have a lovely band for our reception now. All right, we already have the music taken care of for the ceremony...I assume your groomsmen will be Sirius, Remus and Peter?" 

James shrugged. "Probably. Peter finally wrote back last week, after I sent him six owls. Funny thing is, he still didn't say where he is, just that he will definitely meet us at the tailor to have the suits measured and fitted, and also be at the rehearsal and wedding." 

She waggled her eyebrows at him. "And your party." 

He frowned at her. "What party?" 

She rolled her eyes. "Only the party Sirius is probably going to throw for you. Don't worry--I'm quite secure. I don't think a last night of debauchery will ruin you for marriage..." 

"Debauchery! What do you think I'm going to do?" 

"You? Oh, it's not you I'm worried about. It's Sirius. He'll probably get completely pissed. You'll be the one holding _him_ up during the ceremony, no doubt. When you can't do it, he can lean against Remus," she grinned mischievously. "Just--I think you should brace yourself. This is _Sirius_. I'd be prepared for him to throw a _very_ risqué party--" 

There was a sudden knock on the door and her father's voice called, "Lily!" Lily jumped and James quickly pulled on his Invisibility Cloak; he was planning to spend the night and her parents didn't know--for obvious reasons. They didn't even know he was in the house. Sometimes it seemed very odd to him that she was nineteen, working as an Auror and living with her parents still, but it also didn't seem worth it for her to get a flat of her own when they were marrying at the summer solstice and would be living together soon enough. 

When he was concealed by the cloak, Lily opened her bedroom door wide, so her father had a good view of the apparently empty room, just in case he should wonder. "Yes, Dad?" 

"Erm, there's someone here to see you, Lily," he said uncertainly. He stepped aside and Lily could see Sam Bell standing there, carrying his wizarding robes over his arm. Her father leaned close to her. "_Are you certain you should be entertaining a gentleman caller when you're engaged to be married?_" he asked her, _sotto voce_. 

Lily reddened. Under his cloak, James seethed. "I work with Sam, Dad. He's another Auror. He helped train me. I told you I helped his wife deliver their daughter, remember?" 

Sam nodded to Mr. Evans. "I'm here on business. Is there a sitting room or some other place downstairs where we could talk, Lily?" he said, turning a little red himself, perhaps at the thought of speaking to her in her bedroom. 

"Of course," she said, starting to leave the room. "Let's go to the kitchen." 

"Bring your robes," he told her. Then he turned and said, "On second thought, don't. We'll be going to a Muggle village--" 

"Going?" Lily said, frowning. "I worked all day at the Ministry, standing around doing _nothing_ but holding my wand ready during three Death Eater trials where the accused looked like they'd already received the Kiss and were about as likely to try to escape as the people they were accused of killing. My feet are dying; I can't believe how exhausting it is to simply stand at attention for hours on end. I just arrived home a little while ago--" 

Sam looked very grim. "I'll explain when we get downstairs. Everyone's being recalled, no matter how recently they've worked. Believe me--you won't be standing still." 

Lily's heart was in her throat. "Oh my god. Is it--You-Know-Who?" 

Sam looked sideways at Mr. Evans; something about his expression made her father clear his throat and say, "Well, I'll just be getting back to my newspaper--" He jogged downstairs hurriedly. Lily thought her father had both looked curious about what was going on and about what Sam might do to him to get him to leave if he didn't go on his own. 

Lily felt James brush past her in the doorway and when she and Sam were walking down the stairs she was aware of him also descending, several steps behind her. They went into the kitchen and Lily took a bottle of ginger beer from the fridge and offered one to Sam. He took a long swig while she was opening one for herself. 

"Thanks," he said with feeling. "We're about to be involved in thirsty work, so it's good we're having this now. Oh, and don't you think you had better get one out for James?" 

Lily practically spit out her mouthful of ginger beer. She only just managed to swallow. "J-j-james?" 

Sam gestured around the room with his bottle. "Not sure where he is in the room, but I know he's here. Where'd you get the Invisibility Cloak, old boy? Nice, that. Wouldn't mind one myself, if a long-lost relative died and left me a fortune..." 

James sheepishly lifted up the cloak so Sam could see him. "My Aunt Othalie gave it to me. She decided she didn't need it any more. Is that part of Auror training? Being able to detect people in Invisibility Cloaks?" 

Sam grinned. "It's part of one's training to be very alert to what's going on around you, and not trusting what you see on the surface, necessarily. I heard very small inexplicable noises, and Lily obviously knew about you; the way she's been behaving and sometimes looking in the direction of the noises rather tipped me off. As I couldn't imagine her letting anyone _else_ hang about in her bedroom in an Invisibility Cloak, not to mention anyone else she wouldn't want her dad to know about--a girlfriend wouldn't be likely--I narrowed it down to you pretty quickly." 

"Speaking of my dad not knowing, I'd like James to cover up again, to play it safe." 

James did, but he also said, "I think Sam had a good idea, though. I could do with something to drink." 

She removed another bottle from the fridge and a disembodied hand reached out and plucked it from her; the hand and the bottle promptly disappeared again. 

"So what's going on?" Lily asked, feeling a chill move through her, and not because of her cold drink. 

"Everyone's being called out to search for two little girls who've gone missing. They're from a wizarding family, obviously. They also happen to be the only daughters of a Ministry department head--he runs Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, and because of that he's raided a number of Death Eaters' homes and confiscated contraband which has landed them in a lot of trouble--one of those raids led to the trial you saw this afternoon." 

"The Murphys? But during the testimony, the man who said he raided their home was--" Her heart leaped into her throat. "Arthur Weasley. And he had bright red hair, and was very tall--" 

James saw the appalled look on her face as she put her hand to her heart. 

"What's wrong, Lily?" Sam said, mystified by her reaction. 

"Oh, James!" she said, turning to where she thought he was and throwing caution to the wind. "He must be Bill and Charlie Weasley's dad! So that means--" 

"--that means the missing girls are their sisters," James finished for her, thinking of the boys he had known from school, the boys whose family was now ripped apart... 

Lily turned to Sam, trying not to fall apart but retain some semblance of professionalism. "We--we went to school with two Weasley boys. How old were--are--their sisters?" 

Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out a small notebook. "The older girl is Annabel Weasley, called Annie. Born the first of September, nineteen-seventy. She stands four feet three inches, weighs about four stone and has blue eyes. When last seen she was wearing her bright orange hair in two braids just past her shoulders, and sported a blue skirt, white blouse and green cardigan, with white socks as high as the ankle and brown brogans. She had blue hair ribbons on the ends of her braids; one hair ribbon is the only trace that's been found of her. The other girl is Margaret Weasley, called Peggy. Born the first of November, nineteen seventy-two. She is three feet eight inches, weighs about three stone, and also has blue eyes. When last seen her chin length bright orange hair was pulled back with a silver-colored hair clip on the right side of her head, to keep it off her face. The clothing she was wearing was a brown gingham dress with short-sleeves, a faun-colored cardigan, ankle-high white socks and dirty beige trainers. She is currently missing her left front tooth. No artifacts have been found from the younger girl." 

Lily drank her ginger beer while Sam recited the information, unable to not picture Bill and Charlie Weasley, and also their father, whom she had seen just that afternoon, testifying staunchly about the way he was attacked when he raided the house of the accused, who had tried to put _Cruciatus_ on him. Evidently he received this sort of reception quite a lot, and she had marveled at his nerve. Certainly he was encountering more danger as a Ministry department head than she was as an Auror. She wondered now who had decided to get revenge on him... 

"Do they think it was someone getting back at Arthur Weasley? For a raid?" 

Sam shook his head. "We don't know. The girls were last seen in a park in the village of Ottery St. Catchpole, in Devon. It's near Exeter. We're to scour every inch of the village for signs of what happened to the girls, or of the girls themselves." 

"Do you--do you have a picture of them?" 

He nodded and took out a copy that had been made of a picture the Weasleys had provided to the Ministry. Lily stared down at the girls, kneeling on the floor next to a Christmas tree with presents under it; they were excitedly holding up their presents for the photographer to see; the older girl was shaking the box she was holding and sometimes putting her ear to it, to listen to what it sounded like when she shook it. They looked happy and innocent, an excited light in their sparkling blue eyes. They were still in their dressing gowns, their red hair standing up on their heads as though they had just tumbled out of bed and run downstairs to see what Father Christmas had brought them... 

Lily handed it back to Sam, trying very hard not to cry. "I'm ready to go," she said, hoping her voice sounded hard, rather than like she was about to break down. 

"So am I," James said from under his cloak. 

Sam shook his head in the direction of James' voice. "You don't have to do this; it's not your job." 

"You need everyone you can get looking for those girls. I can do it in my cloak and stick with Lily, if you like. I didn't have to tell you I was coming; I could have just done it..." 

Sam grimaced. "All right, all right. Because of what it is--you can come. If someone's made off with them, we need to find the trail before it grows cold. But you're going to have to get used to the idea that most of the time, you won't be able to follow Lily around while she's working. She won't always be standing guard at Ministry trials. You're going to have to get used to her being an Auror." 

"It's not that I don't want to leave Lily alone, although I reckon I won't need to worry about her as much if I'm nearby. I like Bill and Charlie Weasley. They're good lads. I'm sure they get it from their dad. If there's anything I can do to find their sisters, I'll do it. Weasley was only doing his job, raiding Death Eaters' houses. He doesn't deserve this..." 

"And their mother!" Lily cried, wiping an errant tear from her cheek. "She must be going mad!" 

Sam nodded. "You could say that. All right. Now, we can't Apparate right into the village; it's already very crowded with witches and wizards looking for the girls. We're going to Apparate to the garden of the Weasley house and then walk into the village. It's called the Burrow, and it's on a road about a twenty-minute walk out of Ottery St. Catchpole in a southwesterly direction. Got all that?" 

Lily closed her eyes and concentrated. She opened her eyes again and nodded at Sam. "Got it. I'm ready." 

"Ready," came James' voice from under his cloak. 

Lily closed her eyes and took her wand out of the holster she wore strapped to her left forearm. She thought about the Burrow, and about it being a mile southwest of Ottery St. Catchpole. She thought about the village being in Devon. She pictured Devon on a map of England, imagined herself flying high over the landscape, the rolling hills and trees passing too quickly to be really seen....Taking a deep breath, she waved her wand and thought all of these things very strongly, feeling the tingling all over her body. She knew she was traveling along some indescribably fluid dimension where she was thought, all thought, and then as her thoughts turned to her own body and clothes, and again, the location that was her destination, she felt the tingling again, more strongly, as she appeared with a _pop!_ in the garden outside the Burrow, where Arthur Weasley lived, and where his daughters should be now, but were not. 

After Lily had her bearings, she looked around at the rickety house, at the homely vegetable garden, and thought what a lovely place it looked like to grow up. She turned to Sam. "Should we keep our wands out, do you think?" 

Sam shook his head, replacing his in the holster. "No; we'll be searching a Muggle village. If you need to do some magic, make it as subtle as possible, and wandless if you can manage it. So, nothing fancy, obviously. You there, James?" 

"I'm here," came the disembodied voice. 

Without another word, the three of them set off for the village to join in the search for the missing Annie and Peggy Weasley. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Can I sit down?" Annie whined; her brogans were very sturdy and probably would have lasted long enough to hand down to Peggy, but they weren't necessarily designed to be comfortable when walking mile after mile on the road to Exeter from Ottery St. Catchpole. 

Peter Pettigrew looked at the girl, wondering for a moment why he was doing this instead of just killing them, as he'd been told. _It's because I'm not a murderer,_ he reminded himself. Annie Weasley, however, was making it more and more difficult to resist temptation... 

Peggy Weasley was another story. She had an easier time with the walking, no doubt, because she was wearing trainers. They looked like they'd already been owned by other Weasleys and were quite worn, but still more appropriate to a long walk than her sister's shoes. "My sister's tired," the little girl said to Peter, who nodded and led them to a low wall bordering a cottage's front garden. Annie sighed as she sat, and Peggy sat next to her, looking up uncertainly at the man who had brought them thus far. 

Peter drew his mouth into a line and sat on the low wall a few feet away from them. His heart seemed to be pounding very loudly in his chest and he wished he knew how long they'd been walking, but he didn't own a watch--which he wasn't even sure would help--and there was no one in the world he could ask. He looked at the cars sitting in the street, the people behind the wheels frozen in a moment of time, talking to other people in the car, drinking something from a paper cup with a plastic lid, glancing to the left to see if a safe turn was possible... 

He and the two Weasley girls were the only people in the entire world moving at this moment in time. He hadn't really been sure what was going to happen when he cast the spell; all he knew was that it would allow him and anyone else he included in the spell to move very fast, move between milliseconds, really. The Death Eater who'd given him his task had taught it to him. Peter had never heard of it. 

He wished for the millionth time that he hadn't left Hogwarts after following Bill Weasley into the forest. But he needed a drink; he just couldn't cope with what he'd learned without _something_. Although his first thought, upon realizing that he was probably the first Moonchild, was that he had a duty to uphold if You-Know-Who was ever going to be defeated, his second thought, when he returned to the castle was _No. I can't. I just can't_.... 

He'd gone back and forth, and finally decided that he couldn't stand one more day cooped up in Booth's wardrobe, waiting for the boy to bring him scraps of food. He needed to get out and walk as a man again. Not to mention that it was getting increasingly unnerving that owls kept bringing him post in the fourth-year dorm. Luckily, the post came at the same time for him as for the other students: during breakfast. None of the boys were in the dorm at that time, so they didn't see the owls scrabbling at the closed window, trying to get in to deliver their letters. Each time, he'd run to the door to check that no one was still hanging about, then he'd furtively changed back to his human body and opened the window, hurriedly taking the parchment from the owl and tossing out the bird again, as he had no food for it. Most of the letters he'd received were from James, asking him about his intention to participate in his and Lily's wedding as a groomsman. The idea made him sick, but he knew it was expected of him. 

After James had sent a half-dozen letters, he'd finally managed to find a moment when he could nick some parchment from one of the boys and scribble out a reply. It was a more complicated maneuver to take it up to the Owlery and mail it. First he had to evade Filch's mangy cat on the way there, which was no mean feat as his secret wall-passages did not reach all the way up to that particular tower. He didn't dare walk about the castle in his human form, so he had no choice but to go there as a rat. Once there, he knew he would have to change quickly and enter the room in his human form, as he didn't dare enter the owls' lair as a rat. He'd have been an owl feast within seconds if he'd done that. In the end, he transfigured back into a human just before he entered the Owlery, after going there very early in the morning. He tried going late at night once and discovered that the birds were all out hunting overnight. 

After returning from the forest, Peter knew he had to get out of the castle or go mad. Finally, he left under cover of night, scampering to the village (going from shrub to shrub along the road to Hogsmeade, to evade the many school owls that were out hunting) then furtively changing to his human form before Apparating to a wizarding pub he knew in Norfolk, near his mother's home. He should go to see his mother, he knew. But he needed a drink first, and he needed to ponder his next step. If he was in a Prophecy, was there anything to be done? Or was he just plain stuck? 

_Maybe the Centaur was wrong,_ he thought. _Maybe I'm not the Moonchild. Just because I'm a Cancer...Just because I've had some dreams...There are loads of other people who are Cancers, too. It might be someone else..._

He was on his second pint of stout at the pub, staring into his glass, trying to work out what to do, when it happened. Suddenly the door of the pub burst in and a band of seven Death Eaters entered, all wearing masks and hooded cloaks that hid their hair color. They started shooting curses left and right and Peter scrambled under the bar, putting the stool where he'd been sitting between him and the attackers, although it offered precious little protection. The Death Eater who strode toward him and yanked the stool out of his hands was laughing. Across the room, Peter could hear people howling in agony as they suffered the Cruciatus Curse. _Oh god oh god oh god,_ Peter thought desperately. _Why did I leave Hogwarts? If I hadn't I'd be sleeping safe and sound in Booth's wardrobe right now..._

He held up his hands in supplication; he didn't want to find out what Cruciatus was like, having heard the cries of the other people in the pub. "Don't curse me, please! I--I can tell you something! I have information You-Know-Who may like to have--about a Prophecy concerning his fall!" 

He wasn't sure what made him do it; perhaps it was because the moment he started begging with the Death Eater, he also thought, _And why in the world shouldn't he curse me? He's a Death Eater--it's what he does. What could I possibly say to convince him to do otherwise?_

And the Prophecy had just popped out. 

The Death Eater lowered his wand; Peter could tell he'd said just the right thing. _Oh god,_ he thought. _I'm part of the Prophecy. Possibly. What if he just kills me once he finds out?_

For even though he'd never felt he had any particular destiny until hearing Peggy Weasley pronounce the words of the Prophecy, he suddenly had an incredible urge to _live_. A primal survival instinct took hold of his faculties and said _Live, Peter. Do whatever you have to do to live._

And so, in the midst of a pub rife with people screaming while being tortured and Death Eaters randomly destroying furniture, shards of glass flying everywhere as the liquor supply was blasted by some destructive Death Eater urge, just because they thought it was fun, Peter found himself being questioned by the faceless Death Eater who had refrained from cursing him when he'd mentioned the Prophecy. 

"When was this Prophecy given?" Peter heard him say above the din. 

"L-last November. At Hogwarts. The Divination professor did it--Professor Trelawney." There. Blame the old cow, as Bill had wanted to tell him in the letter that kept coming back. Peter knew everything that was in it anyway because Bill had read it aloud to Charlie to ask his opinion of it. Peter described the players in the Prophecy: the Lion, the Moonchild, the Daughter of War. The Death Eater nodded and Peter could see his eyes glittering through the slits in his mask. 

"What use is this to me?" the Death Eater spat when Peter was done. "You've told me nothing. Who _are_ the actual people in the Prophecy?" Peter opened his mouth and shut it again. The Death Eater moved closer to him and held his wand to his chest. "You know something else, don't you? Do you need some--gentle persuasion?" 

"I--um--that is--" Peter fumbled about, feeling like he was going to spew. _Don't say anything about Lily. Don't say anything about Lily..._

"Well, um, I went to this Centaur about it, since they're interested in such things, but he couldn't or wouldn't tell me much..." 

The Death Eater nodded. "Centaurs are like that...." he agreed, sounding less threatening now. He waved his hand at a stool that had miraculously been left intact by the other Death Eaters, who seemed intent on destroying the pub utterly. Peter ducked as a bottle went flying directly at his head; it flew over the bar and smashed against a mirror on the wall, which was already splintered and crazed, reflecting the wrecked room at irregular angles. The Death Eater put his hand on the bar and lithely leaped over it; he found an unbroken glass and pulled a pint for Peter. Although Peter had been drinking stout, not ale, he took the drink. Another crash behind him caused Peter to whirl, to see what had happened. A table lay splintered against the door to the pub, so no one could leave or enter. He turned back to the Death Eater who was, amazingly enough, still not hexing him. He lifted the ale to drink it just as the Death Eater asked him, "What's your name?" 

Peter paused before he drank and considered his answer. He would tell the truth--and yet not. "My friends call me Wormtail," he said, then took a sip of the ale, hoping it would make him drunk enough to not care about the pain if the Death Eater decided to curse him after all. 

The Death Eater put both hands on the bar and leaned very close to Peter's face. "All right then, _Wormtail_, tell me something that the Centaur said about the Daughter of War." 

Peter swallowed the ale with some effort, as his throat was very tight. _Think, Peter, think. Tell him something, anything, but not the truth. Tell him--_

"The Centaur said a Daughter of War would come from the Weasley family." 

_Damn_! Why had he said that? He hadn't meant to. Yes, he was trying to draw off the Death Eater by mentioning the Prophecy, but he hadn't meant to mention the Weasleys. Or Lily. He hoped he managed _not_ to mention Lily. He looked down suddenly at his drink; while he didn't normally request ale, he had drunk it before and knew what it should taste like. There was something odd about this ale. Something off... 

_Veritaserum._

Peter's throat felt even tighter. Oh god, he had to get out of here before the Death Eater wormed anything else out of him. He really hadn't meant to say anything about the Weasleys. Could he take it back? He didn't think so; the Veritaserum would not enable him to lie while it was in effect. When had the Death Eater put it into his drink? While the glass was still down below the bar or when he'd turned to see the shattered table at the entrance to the pub? He didn't dare change into a rat and have everyone present see that he was an Animagus, and he wasn't sure whether he could Apparate while he was so agitated; he would likely splinch himself. 

"Interesting, very interesting..." the Death Eater said. He suddenly turned to a Death Eater nearby who was having fun seeing what happened if he pointed his wand at all of the taps, making them spill all over the floor behind the bar. The pub was stinking like a combination distillery and brewery from all of the broken liquor bottles and spilled beer. 

"You, there. Watch this one until I get back. I have something important to tell our Master. Oh, and he hasn't experienced the Cruciatus Curse yet. Can you take care of it for me? I'll be back." 

Peter frowned at the way the Death Eater was so casual about this, as though he were some sort of normal businessman having to go see his boss and delegating some responsibility for which he had no time to an underling. Before the first Death Eater had Apparated away, the second one turned to Peter and, without warning, pointed his wand and cried, "_Crucio!_" 

Peter toppled off the stool, knowing now why the people around him in the pub had been screaming so. He felt like his internal organs were set on fire, like a vulture was picking out his liver, like cannibals were feasting on his body....There was no way to process all of the pain, all the many varieties of it. Stabbing, slashing, fiery pain; hitting, crushing, twisting pain. It moved through his body incessantly, never pausing, never giving him any respite. He heard himself screaming and it didn't seem to be him, it seemed to be someone else, some other person crying out from the depths of hell.... 

After an a few minutes that were an eternity, the Death Eater finally stopped cursing him. Peter stayed where he was on the floor, wondering whether he was dead. _That would simplify matters,_ he thought. And yet--he knew right away that he wasn't dead. The first Death Eater had returned; he stood over Peter, arms akimbo. 

"Well, well, well. Now you know what will happen if you do not obey the order you are about to receive. Not very nice, is it? For giving the Dark Lord such _useful_ information, I am authorized to extend to you an invitation to join us, the glorious ranks of those who serve the Dark Lord, the Death Eaters. But we do not invite just anyone; you must first prove yourself loyal to our Master." 

Peter trembled. "_How can I be a Death Eater?_" 

"What do you mean _how can you be a Death Eater_?" 

_Oh, god,_ thought Peter. _Did I say that out loud_? 

"I mean," Peter said quickly, "with all due respect, I wasn't the most brilliant student in my year or anything like that. Many times I barely scraped by. I just mean--I would think the Dark Lord would want someone more _talented_ than me..." 

The Death Eater laughed. "Oh, good try! Now tell me how you have an appointment to have your teeth cleaned next week, so you're unable to meet with him and accept a position as a Death Eater...." 

Without warning, he pointed his wand and uttered the curse and pain shot through Peter again. He howled at the top of his lungs, wishing he were dead. Abruptly, the pain left him once more and he remained on the pub's tile floor; suddenly he couldn't stop himself and he turned and spewed onto the dirty tiles until he had nothing else he could heave out of his body. 

"Hmph," the Death Eater said scornfully. "Lying there in a puddle of your own sick when you could be a servant of the Dark Lord. You may not think you are a very talented wizard, but how much talent do you need to get rid of two little girls?" 

Peter whipped his head around and stared at the mask, wishing he could see the face behind it. 

"Get rid of--" 

"Yes. That is the task you must perform. When you have done that successfully, you will have shown your loyalty to our Master and will be deemed a good servant. And don't get any ideas about not doing it, thinking they'll be safe. If you don't do it, someone else will. _And_ if you don't do it--you will be tracked down....And you will think that what you have experienced today is a holiday," he said ominously. 

Peter tried to swallow. "All--all right," he stuttered out, just so the pain would stop coming and coming. He would figure out some way of protecting the girls later, some way to warn their parents.... "As--as I said," he reminded the Death Eater, "I wasn't the best student in school....Do you have any suggestions for how I might do it? How I might get to them without being caught?" 

And the Death Eater had puffed himself up importantly and told Peter about the Tempus Fugit spell.... 

Finally, the "festivities" were winding down and the Death Eaters were leaving. Peter's companion put his wand to Peter's chest before he left. 

"I'll be in touch," he said simply before Disapparating. Peter slumped against the bar, heaving a sigh of relief. The pub around him was something to behold; it looked like there had been a war, which there had been, Peter reckoned. He stood up shakily and walked around the bar; no one took any notice of him, as no one had evidently taken any notice of his conversation with the Death Eater. He pulled a pint for himself from a tap that hadn't been emptied and drank it in one gulp. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he tried to concentrate on Apparating to his mother's house.... 

"Where are we?" Peggy Weasley asked him. 

"Exeter," he said shortly. 

She nodded, then said, "Why?" 

_Why indeed?_ Peter thought. He'd returned to Hogwarts after a brief visit with his mother and then went back to living in the Gryffindor dorms--this time with the second-year boys, and he avoided being seen this time, even though not being someone's pet meant he had to scrounge for his own food. He listened carefully to everything Charlie Weasley said about his family, but no useful information seemed to be forthcoming from him. He didn't want to risk Booth making him a pet again, so he didn't return to the fourth years' dorm. Then, not long before the Easter holiday, Charlie provided him with the idea... 

"I don't know how I'm going to stand my little sister for a whole week," he said to an Asian-looking boy who had the bed next to his. "Annie, that is. A little _more_ than a week, actually. She's such a brat these days. Drove me mad during the Christmas holiday. I wish one of our cousins would ask her to visit or something, or just make off with her...My Aunt Meg likes her. Too bad she doesn't just go off to live with _her_..." 

_That's it_, Peter thought from his hiding place under the bed. _I was told to get rid of them. Not to kill them...._

He remembered the Tempus Fugit spell the Death Eater had shown him; if he ever wanted to live as anything other than a rat again, he would have to do this, or risk being tracked down and killed--probably after a fair amount of torture. The girls wouldn't be with their family any more, but it didn't sound like the second-year boy would consider the one named Annie to be any great loss anyway. He vaguely remembered her from the day her younger sister had pronounced the Prophecy. He could take them away to a new home... A memory charm on each of them would take care of their remembering their old lives, and he'd heard there was a spell for owl-proofing people, so they could no longer receive owl post. He didn't know what it was, but he could sneak into the library and look it up. 

He wasn't sure where the Weasleys lived, so he decided to stow away in Charlie's trunk when he went home for the holiday, after discreetly chewing a small hole in one corner of the dilapidated old piece of luggage, so he would be able to breathe. _This won't be so bad,_ he thought. _I'll find some place nearby, with some Muggles, where no one would think to look for them...They'll begin new lives instead of being killed by Death Eaters....They'll be fine...._

He had to reassure himself about his plan frequently, and very nearly changed his mind up to the very moment when he'd cast the Tempus Fugit spell in the park and gently lifted the girls from the swings; he deposited each of them on a bench and then included them in the spell. They blinked, obviously surprised to be on a park bench instead of on the swings, but he tried to alleviate their fears right away by saying that their father had sent him to get them, to take them away because they were in danger and they needed to be somewhere safe... 

The older girl had not believed him at first. She nodded at her brothers, frozen while playing football with some village boys, and said, "But they'll be worried when they've found that we're gone. And Mum will go mad, too!" 

Peter shook his head. "Your father told me that that couldn't be helped. He doesn't want anyone else to know so that they can't tell what happened to you if they are given Veritaserum." 

Peggy looked up at him, swallowing. "Is this because of that Prophecy?" 

Peter looked at her, shocked. "How--how did you know?" He felt flustered, and he'd let his guard down for a moment. He was unaccustomed to being around children. 

The small girl shrugged. "It makes sense." She turned to her sister. "I'm sorry, Annie," she said, sniffling a little. "This is all my fault..." 

Annie was belligerent. "It's _not_ your fault Dad is hiding us. It's _his_ fault. He's probably worried that if you stay, we'll all be attacked. If just you disappear, someone who thinks you're me could still attack the family, so he has to pack off all of the girls." She looked very cross and yet also like she might cry any minute. "Where are we going?" she asked Peter thickly. 

"To Exeter. I found a lovely place run by some very nice ladies. They're nuns, and they'll take good care of you and keep you safe until it's all right for you to come home again. No one will find you there." 

"What about school?" Peggy asked suddenly. 

"Erm," Peter hesitated. "You'll go to school with Muggle children. It's just temporary." 

Peggy nodded; she should have known that her mother would never do anything dreadful to her; her mother didn't even know her father had arranged for them to be sent off to a safe place. She thought sadly of her mother for a minute; her mother would miss them, she knew. But hopefully they would soon be reunited. A sixth sense prickled at the back of her brain. Somehow she _knew_ this would happen, but she didn't know why... 

"We're in Exeter," Peter told Peggy, "because this is where you'll be living for a while." 

They walked past people frozen in mid-step, down street after street, until they finally reached the hospital and orphanage complex where Peter had watched the kindly nuns, day after day, finally determining that they would take good care of the girls and keep them safe. He'd then returned to the Burrow, where he'd lain in wait until the perfect opportunity presented itself. And then--that morning he'd nearly been killed. It was bad enough trying to get to the owlery at Hogwarts in his rat form without Filch's mangy cat chasing after him; but at the Burrow he had to live in garden gnome holes, and then when he poked his nose out of a hole early in the morning because of a loud noise, he'd seen a very determined barn owl battering itself against one of the upper windows of the house until Bill Weasley had opened the casement to retrieve his post. As soon as the bird flew away from the window, it turned and dove at the garden, and Peter had fled into the depths of the warren of tunnels. He was starting to wonder how he was going to get out to execute his plan; in a few days the older boys would be going back to Hogwarts and the younger girls would be going back to the Hogsmeade school for most of every day. The time to do this was during the holiday. And then, when he'd seen the four older children leaving the house and walking toward the village, he knew that this was his lucky day.... 

It had felt like they'd been traveling for at least five hours--perhaps it was even an entire day--whereas the world around them had not even advanced a single second since the moment he had removed the girls from the swings. Peter took them into the building and to the children's ward. "Now then; we need to give you a reason to be here...." 

He took the Tempus Fugit spell off them and then put spells on them to make them look like they'd been in terrible accidents. He also performed the spell he had researched that would make it impossible for them to receive post owls. Then he ducked behind a screen and took the Tempus Fugit spell off himself and magically cut a small hole in the bottom of the wall. He immediately changed into his rat form, hoping the nuns wouldn't see him and scream. He scampered into the hole to watch and wait. 

Instead, they screamed over finding the two girls who appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Peter managed to find his way through the walls to the room where they took Peggy, by following the voices. Once there, he found a loose knothold in the wooden skirting at the bottom of the wall; he final emerged under a bed, seeing feet in sturdy black shoes moving about purposefully. When the shoes left, Peter emerged, and after determining that no one else was around, he returned to his human form and then transfigured his clothes so that they looked like the things he had seen the doctors wearing. Peggy was sleeping peacefully, no doubt exhausted by her long walk to Exeter, although it was only ten minutes since he'd removed her from the park. Her brothers might not have noticed they were missing yet, and she was safe and sound, miles away in a place they would never think to look. He still had some things to do, though, before he left. 

"_Obliviate!_" he said, pointing his wand at her. She convulsed in her bed momentarily, as he put a very strong spell on her, designed to wipe out memories of most of her six-and-a-half years. He worried that she might wake, but she did not. He pocketed his wand and took one more look at her before leaving her room. Now he only needed to wipe Annie's memory clean and give some of the nuns false memories, so they would think the girls showed up when they did because they were in a car accident. 

He wandered the halls of the hospital, unquestioned in his doctor's garb, receiving deferential nods from the nuns who passed him. He surreptitiously checked in this room and that until he found where they'd taken Annie; She was also fast asleep, not a hair on her head showing. It was still light out and evidently she'd pulled the covers over her to sleep in utter darkness. He closed the door and pointed at her sleeping form, again saying, "_Obliviate!_" 

He let himself out quietly and went to find the nuns. He had done his job; he was told to get rid of the girls, and he'd done just that--but not in the way the Death Eater had probably meant. Still--a hue and cry would go up about the missing girls and it would _seem_ that he had killed them. He would let You-Know-Who believe that. Maybe then nothing would happen to Lily... 

He just had one more thing to do; he had to go to Leicestershire, to the house where Lily used to live. He remembered her talking about the nice people her parents had found to rent their old house, the people who had lost their only daughter to cancer. _I know it's an Unforgivable Curse,_ he thought, _but putting Imperius on them to make them want to give two little girls a home is hardly in the same class with making people do horrid things..._ He was rather proud of himself for thinking of this last detail. He was going to see to it that the girls had a good home, and even that they were together. He wasn't a bad person, he thought. It was all for the best. The Weasleys would only have gone through something similar but worse had the girls been killed, and if he hadn't done it, someone else would have. It was all for the best, really... 

After the door to Annie's room closed, she crept out from the screen in the corner where she'd been putting her clothes on again, planning to run away from the nuns. She had no intention of being kept in a hospital when there was nothing wrong with her. She would take her sister and go somewhere, anywhere, far away. 

And then she heard the wizard who had brought them to Exeter cast the memory charm; she had seen him around the corner of the screen. He wasn't looking in her direction. He was looking at the mound of blankets she'd put in the bed to fool the nuns. _Why should someone working for my dad put memory charms on us if this is being done to protect us?_

She swallowed. _She knew why_. Her father had no intention of their ever coming home. He was just getting rid of them--_forever_. Annie felt tears start rolling down her cheeks despite her best efforts not to cry. She remembered the fit Peggy had had that morning. _She knew. She knew what was going to happen. And Mum sent us away, probably also knowing. I don't believe that wizard who brought us here; Dad wouldn't have done this without talking to her.... _

__

Our parents don't want us. We're a danger to the rest of the family, so we're not a part of it any more...

She waited a little while after the wizard left to creep out from behind the screen; she moved the mounded blankets out of the way and climbed back into the bed. _Well, Dad,_ she thought bitterly, tears filling her eyes again; _nice try. But I still have my memories. I will always remember that you didn't want me._

She threw herself back on her pillow and stared up at the ceiling, having changed her mind about leaving. Where would she have gone, anyway? She was eight years old; she would be nine in September. She turned on her side, looking around the clinical room, wondering when the nuns would bring food. A tear trailed down the end of her nose and she wiped her nose on her sleeve. 

_There are probably worse things than living in a place like this, with Muggles,_ she tried to convince herself. _Like being in a family that doesn't want you...._

The walk had exhausted her and she could no longer resist the urge her eyelids had to close, glad that she still had her memories, and vowing that she would get her father back for this some day... 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_Friday, Saturday, 21 June, 1979_

James Potter had never been so petrified in his life. The trumpeter started blaring Clarke's _Trumpet Voluntary_, the harpsichord twinkling under the strident tones of the brass and the bows gliding over the strings of the violins and cello and bass. Beside him stood Sirius, dressed, as James was, in immaculate formal clothes; Remus stood next to him identically attired, and Peter brought up the rear, looking uncharacteristically neat and dignified in his groomsman clothes and making James wonder whether he'd ever considered working in a Muggle bank; he looked like he'd be right at home turning down people who were asking to borrow money. Like he'd quite enjoy it. 

_Why did I think that?_ He frowned. His mind was wandering. He was nervous, incredibly nervous. He'd never been so nervous before in his life. He looked up the aisle from his position under the canopy of flowers at the front of the large white tent on the lawn of the _Willows_, the inn where Lily's parents had been married. Cecilia Ratkowski was walking with a very slow, stately gait, as she'd been told to do during the rehearsal. A circle of flowers crowned her head and her shimmering golden gown clung tightly to her; she looked rather as though she might be holding her breath. Lily had said she was worried about fitting into her gown as she'd broken up with her boyfriend and gone on a bit of an eating binge. 

James saw that Sirius was gazing appreciatively at Cecilia. "Put your eyes back in your head, you," he whispered to Sirius. "Lily said she just broke up with her boyfriend." 

Sirius straightened his tie and smirked at Cecilia, who saw and blushed, wobbling a little on the next step, as though Sirius had distracted her. "Then she'll be wanting a rebound bloke, nothing she could possibly consider long-term. It's perfect," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth to James. 

"If you like her so much, why didn't you go out with her when we were in school?" James probed softly. 

Sirius shrugged; he barely moved his lips when he spoke. "I dated a lot of girls, but I couldn't manage to get to _every_ one. Besides, she was in Gryffindor. It would have been a bit tricky after breaking up with her, having to hang about in the same common room, being in all of the same classes. I mean, look how awkward it was after I tried to kiss Lily _once._" 

James grimaced. "You know, this really isn't the best time to remind me that you made a pass at my bride..." 

Sirius smiled and continued to watch Cecilia. "Just reminding you of what you're getting into. Don't cross that little wife of yours if you don't want to be eating all of your food through the back of your head." 

This made James recall the 'Picasso' incident and he had a difficult time stifling his laughter. He was glad that the trumpet was rather loud. "Stop saying things like that," he whispered to Sirius. "This is no time to make me laugh." 

"Don't be stupid," Sirius said softly. "You're too tense. This is the _perfect_ time to make you laugh." He grinned mischievously. 

Cecilia had reached the front and now Lily's sister Petunia was walking down the aisle, looking like she'd rather be eating raw lemons. Or like she already had--it was hard to tell the difference. She held her head high, as though determined to take the high road and not reveal how distasteful this all was for her. She failed miserably, in James' opinion. 

He had a sudden thought. "Oh, god, Sirius. _What if I forget what to say_?" he hissed to his best man. "What if I bollix it up completely? I don't think I remember. Bloody hell, I've forgotten everything from the rehearsal..." 

"_I_ know what you're supposed to say. I'll feed you your lines. And the minister will help you, too. Don't worry." 

Sirius' soft assurance was not _completely_ reassuring to James. "What if I--what if I _faint_?" he choked out softly, starting to feel somewhat lightheaded as soon as he suggested it. 

"Then _breathing_ might help somewhat, to get some oxygen to your brain. Just _breathe_, James. Come on, you can do this...." He gave a lopsided smile to Cecilia, across the aisle from them. Now Lily's mother was starting down the aisle, wearing a more matronly version of the dress Cecilia wore, as had Petunia. Lily had chosen her own mother to be her matron of honor. "I'm going to sweep that girl off her feet at the reception, just you wait," Sirius whispered. 

James snorted softly. "You? Sweeping? How?" 

Sirius gave him a secret smile. "I've got a surprise for you at the reception. For everyone, really..." 

Lily's mother was drawing nearer. James gave his best man a small frown. "All right, all right. It worked. You've succeeded in distracting me. Now, what's this surprise?" 

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise. And actually, now that I think of it, I've got _two_ surprises..." Sirius wore his most mischievous expression, and from what James could see, Cecilia was finding it very appealing; she was giving him sly looks, then gazing down into her flowers, as though she hadn't been making eyes at the best man. 

Finally, the trumpeter took the fanfare up a notch and James looked to the open flap of the tent, where Lily had appeared on her father's arm. James thought again that he was going to faint, and then realized that Sirius was right--he had to take a breath. He did so rather self-consciously as the guests rose to watch Lily draw nearer to the front. Her gown was the same color as the lilies-of-the-valley she carried; it clung almost indecently to her, revealing her shoulders, dipping daringly low, shrinking in to her impossibly small waist, then flaring out in a grand skirt that trailed behind her along the white runner. James couldn't look at her enough. Her hair was caught up on her head in some complicated style he didn't know the name of, stray red tendrils artfully trailing across the nape of her neck and on her cheeks and brow. A wreath of more lilies of the valley sat on her bright hair. Her brilliant green eyes sparkled, meeting his, and he felt his chest hitch. _I'm marrying Lily Evans._ How could this be? Was there any luckier man anywhere in the world? No, he didn't think so. 

She and her father reached the front and he leaned in to kiss his daughter on the cheek, mindful of not smudging her make-up. She also kissed his cheek and beamed at him. James heard her whisper to him, "_You look very much the elder statesman, Daddy._" 

It was true; Lily's father had a bit of a round belly and a dark beard streaked with white, plus the green eyes he'd given his daughter. The words _Lord Mayor of London_ suggested themselves to James. 

"And you look like the loveliest bride I've seen since your own mum," he told her, looking proud and sad at the same time. He kissed her again and then grasped James' hand unexpectedly; James nodded at him and received a grim nod in return before the older man turned to take his seat in the front row of folding chairs. Lily stepped forward to take James' arm instead of her father's and James swallowed, his nervousness returning, hoping Sirius had been right that he and the minister could help him if he forgot what to do and say... 

But it was all right. He did everything he was supposed to. Sirius gave him the rings at the right time and he looked in Lily's eyes, slowly putting the ring on her finger, and then she put his ring on his finger. The minister was beaming at them, and the next thing he knew they were kissing, kissing deeply before everyone they knew, practically, but it was all right, it was expected, and when they surfaced, the musicians had struck up the recessional and they were marching up the aisle arm in arm, grinning uncontrollably at each other. Lily leaned in to him as they reached the end of the aisle, saying, "We did it!" as though she had been as nervous as him. Perhaps she had been. 

On the lawn, he pulled her into a hug and twirled her around, her skirt belling outward. She threw her arms around his neck and when he stopped spinning her, she pulled him down into a kiss that started a fire somewhere around his toes and started working its way quickly up his body... 

After all of the planning and anxiety, the day of their wedding passed in something of a blur for the two of them. They were very grateful to the photographer, a wizard who was taking photos of them with a Muggle camera. He would develop some rolls with a special potion so that the pictures would move, like all wizard photos, while he would develop others in the Muggle way, so that the Evanses could have pictures in their home that did _not_ move and confound Muggle visitors. 

They had hours of daylight ahead of them still, since it was the longest day of the year, so Sirius, Remus and Peter could stay as long as possible. An hour before sunset they were going to slip away so they could accompany Remus during the full moon, for once. Just the night before, when they were at an incredibly seedy Muggle club in the East End of London, it had occurred to James to wonder how Remus had been coping for the previous year. He felt rather ashamed that he hadn't bothered to ask before. 

When Remus had told them all, rather bashfully, that he'd been going to the Ministry lock-up during the full moon, James was appalled. "You sould have shed shomethin'! No, Remush. I'm shorry. _We_ sould have shed shomethin'. God! What kind of mates are we?" He'd put his arm around Remus' shoulders and pulled him into an awkward hug. "How could we det you loo that? How we could not you be there for?" He'd tightened his hold on Remus and started to sob. 

Remus had looked alarmed. "Erm, how much has James had, Sirius?" 

"I'm ferpeckly sober," James reassured him, raising his glass of beer. 

A scantily-clad dancer gyrated before them; she had a long blonde wig and what little clothing covered her body left absolutely nothing to the imagination. James looked up at her blearily. "What would you thick," he asked her, "if you were a werewolf and your mates adanboned you?" He pulled Remus close again with his right arm and pointed at him with his left. Remus was appalled, and saw that Sirius and Peter were also. 

"Er," Remus said awkwardly to the largely-naked woman thrusting various body parts under their noses. "My mate's had a few too many. He's getting married tomorrow." 

She laughed and continued dancing. "Congratulations," she said to James as she moved closer to him. At this range, it was clear that she was probably about twenty-five years older than they were. She ran her finger down his cheek. "Would the groom like a little extra-special treat?" 

Sirius stepped between her and James. "The best man might," he said, grinning. 

James pushed between them; he put his hand next to his mouth, as though he was whispering very confidentially to the woman, but instead he spoke in a sort of whispered shout. 

"He _knows_ things," James declared loudly. "He's a wizard, you see. We _all_ are." 

"And that's it," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "Time for us to go." He took one of James' arms while Remus took the other; Sirius reached into his pocket and handed some money to Peter to pay the bill. Soon they were on the pavement outside, where Sirius hoped the cool night air would clear James' head. 

"I'd hex you good if you weren't getting married tomorrow," Sirius said when they were outside. 

"Wha? Why?" James said, breathing odiferously into Sirius' face. Sirius frowned at him. 

"Because you have a big mouth. How many times have you been drunk, James?" 

"Counting tonight?" 

"Yeah." 

"Once." 

"Are you all right?" 

James turned suddenly. Lily was standing next to him, looking a little concerned. She held out a glass of champagne for him. He grimaced at it, vowing to only drink a little. 

"Yeah, I'm fine." 

She smiled. "Well, I see you survived last night. Sirius was telling me a little about it." She nodded at their best man; he was chatting up Cecilia, standing very close to her. The band was playing something sort of soft and mushy-sounding, no discernible beat. James sipped his champagne briefly, then put it down on a nearby table. 

"When do I get to dance with you?" he asked, wanting an excuse to hold her in his arms. She grinned and looked up at the conductor, giving him a nod. 

"How's right now? Remember the song we picked?" 

He swung her out onto the dance floor, her skirt whirling in a perfect arc. "The most perfect song..." he said, his face against her neck, loving the feeling of holding her close to him, feeling her heart beat against his as the young woman began to sing in a sultry contralto... 

_ I'm wild again, beguiled again  
A simpering, whimpering child again  
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I . . .  
_

James stepped away from her and twirled her, making her smile in pleasure before he captured her in his arms again. The singer continued... 

_ Could not sleep, would not sleep  
Till love came and told me I should not sleep  
Bothered and bewildered am I . . .  
Lost my heart, so what of it?  
He was cold, I agree,  
He can laugh and I love it  
Although the laugh's on me.  
_

"Well," Lily whispered, "not _completely_ perfect. You were never cold to me...And we laugh together, not at each other..." 

"Ah, but this is the part I like best..." James said directly into her ear, making her shiver with pleasure... 

_I'll sing to him, each spring to him  
And long for the day when I'll cling to him,  
Bewitched, bothered so bewildered am I . . .   
_

When they were done, he gathered her to him and captured her lips with his, putting his hand on the back of her head, wondering whether it would make her hair fall down, and then _hoping_ he would make it fall down.... 

It was unclear whether the applause was for their dancing or the orchestra and singer. James and Lily turned and applauded in the singer's direction, though, to show their appreciation, and she bowed, smiling with pleasure. Lily's father appeared at her elbow now to dance with her, and James sought out Lily's mother to ask her to dance. 

After a while it seemed that they were dancing non-stop, but then the orchestra took a break and dinner was served, and James thought he'd never been at a party when he'd had more fun. It was odd to think that technically, he was the host. (When he and Lily had gone to her parents to say they were going to marry, her father had sighed and said there was no money for a wedding, but James had said he'd pay for it all, as he had a sizable inheritance.) Sirius was being his wittiest, Remus was chiming in with his sardonic asides, even Peter's sometimes too-sarcastic comments hit just the right note on this day, and, to James' relief, Lily's sister had departed soon after the reception had started, so they didn't have to continue to see her sour expression for hours on end. 

As they ate, James leaned toward Sirius and asked him, "So, when do we get the surprises you promised? Or were you just saying that to keep me from falling apart during the ceremony?" 

"No, no," Sirius said as soon as he'd swallowed the bite of steak he'd been chewing. "I can tell you all the first surprise: I am now--and have been for the last two months--gainfully employed." James, Lily, Remus and Peter all dropped their jaws in a rather unflattering manner. Sirius grimaced. "Well don't look _that_ shocked. I wasn't a total lie-about at school, after all. I did get ten O.W.L.s and respectable marks on my N.E.W.T.s, even if they weren't up to yours and Lily's," he reminded James. 

"But--what--where--" Lily sputtered. 

Sirius laughed. "Can't imagine who'd have me, eh? Thank goodness you weren't the one doing the hiring," he said, his eyes twinkling at her. On this day, though, his antics could only make her laugh. 

"I'm sorry, Sirius," she smiled. "I'm not trying to insult you, really. Well, don't keep us waiting any longer! Tell us what the job is." 

"Well, I may not be an Auror, and I may not be a Chaser for the illustrious Montrose Magpies _and_ playing Quidditch for England, _but_--I am now the assistant to the department head in Research and Development at Comet Brooms, Limited. I am personally in charge of testing the experimental charms we're developing for faster acceleration and pinpoint braking." 

James laughed. "Which means you get to ride brooms all day. What a perfect job for you!" 

Sirius looked genuinely offended. "I'm not just 'riding brooms all day.' I'm actually working on developing the charms. And--I'll tell you a secret..." 

"Another one?" Remus said, rolling his eyes. 

He motioned for them to lean in to hear him, so they were huddled together conspiratorially, creating an odd sight for the other guests when they glanced at the head table. "I'm not just planning to use the charms on brooms." 

Lily immediately sat up and covered her ears with her hands and started humming a tune. Sirius raised an eyebrow and asked James, "What's she doing?" 

"Well," James explained, "it sounds like you're planning to do something illegal. Those charms are only to be used by authorized employees of licensed broom manufacturers and _only_ on brooms. Remember, I married a cop." 

Sirius grinned. "Yeah," he whispered; "a cop whose husband is an illegal Animagus..." 

"_Ssssh!_" James hissed at him. "Are you mad? And you said last night that _I_ had a big mouth!" 

"Oh, I'm being quiet enough. And you _did_ have a big mouth. You were mouthing off to a Muggle." 

"She just assumed it was because I was drunk." 

"It _was_ because you were drunk," Remus said, grinning. 

James glanced at Lily. "While she's busy distracting herself, tell me: what else are you going to put the charms on?" he asked Sirius. 

Sirius looked almost unbearably smug. "A motorcycle." 

"_A motorcycle_?" James didn't know whether he was outraged or deeply envious. The two emotions were warring within him. "Why?" he asked Sirius. 

"Well, I already have this motorcycle, see, that I bought from this old bloke in Wemyss Bay. You're off so much of the time playing Quidditch or staying at Lily's that I had a lot of spare time, and I've put it in the cottage back at Ascog in lieu of a garage. I've been working on it constantly, and now it runs like a dream. The birds all love it," he added, winking slyly at Cecilia. "And once I, er, 'alter' it a wee bit, it'll be every bit as useful as a broom. After all, there are times when Apparition isn't really practical..." 

James shook his head, smiling. "You're going to be a life-long bachelor, aren't you? With always another scheme for getting girls." 

"_Women_, mate, _women_. We're out of school now, remember." 

James shook his head over Sirius, wondering how he could just walk up to a strange woman and ask her out. Lily was the first girl he'd ever asked out, technically. The first time he and Bonnie had gone to Hogsmeade together, _she'd_ been the one who'd asked him, when they were working together during Herbology. He'd been so surprised that a girl was asking him out that he'd said yes without thinking _Do I actually want to go out with Bonnie Manetti?_ He just looked at how stunningly pretty Bonnie was and knew that if Sirius had found out she'd asked him on a date and he'd refused Sirius would never let him hear the end of it. 

After dinner, there was still more dancing. Remus helped Lily to stand and said, "I don't believe I've had a chance to dance with the bride yet, and soon circumstances will force me to leave..." 

Lily smiled at him and let him lead her to the dance floor. When she heard the song, she grinned at him. "Did you tell them to play that?" 

"How'd you guess? As songs about the moon go, it's not bad...." He held his hand lightly against her lower back and grasped her hand with his other hand as they listened to the singer croon to them and moved languidly around the dance floor... 

_ Blue Moon  
You saw me standing alone  
Without a dream in my heart  
Without a love of my own_

Blue Moon  
You know just what I was there for  
You heard me saying a prayer for  
Someone I really could care for

"How've you been?" she asked him, suddenly feeling rather guilty, as though he had asked her to marry him and she'd chosen James instead, even though she'd loved him first. 

"All right," he said calmly. She had to admit; he looked better than she'd ever seen him. His white lock of hair flopped over his brow rakishly, and as the light-filled early evening progressed, his cheeks became more and more hirsute. He appeared to have a light brown beard now. "I'm seeing someone," he said suddenly, needing to reassure her, remembering when she had confessed to him that she was in love with him, on the Hogwarts Express. 

_ And then there suddenly appeared before me  
The only one my arms will hold  
I heard somebody whisper please adore me  
And when I looked to the Moon it turned to gold_

"That's good," Lily smiled, her guilt assuaged somewhat. She would always be terribly fond of Remus and felt the injustice of what he had to suffer very keenly. _It just isn't fair,_ she thought, not for the first--or last--time. _He's so sweet; he deserves to be happy..._ "Tell me about her?" she asked him. He grimaced and drew his lips into a line. 

"There isn't much to tell. It's someone from school, but not someone I knew well...and not someone from Gryffindor..." he said truthfully, consciously not using a pronoun to refer to his lover. 

_ Blue Moon  
Now I'm no longer alone  
Without a dream in my heart  
Without a love of my own_

And then there suddenly appeared before me  
The only one my arms will ever hold  
I heard somebody whisper please adore me  
And when I looked the Moon had turned to gold

Blue moon  
Now I'm no longer alone  
Without a dream in my heart  
Without a love of my own

Blue moon  
Now I'm no longer alone  
Without a dream in my heart  
Without a love of my own  


They clapped when the song was over, and then Lily leaned toward Remus and kissed his scrubby cheek. "I'm glad you're happy, Remus. You _look_ happy." 

He smiled gently at her, taking her hands. "I am. You make a beautiful bride, Lily. I'm so glad you and James are together." 

Her new husband suddenly appeared at her elbow and put his arm around her shoulders possessively, grinning broadly. "So am I," he said to Remus. 

Remus nodded to him and made a sweeping gesture with his hand. "She's all yours, Prongs..." 

"Thank you, Moony old boy," James said, taking his bride in his arms again as Lily laughed. 

"Are the four of you going to use those old nicknames until you're a hundred years old?" 

James pulled her close to him as the pianist's introduction ended and the singer began to sing; he grinned even more broadly. "Probably. That isn't a problem is it? A deal breaker? Should I have told you that before the ceremony--?" 

She hit his shoulder lightly. "Oh, you. Don't be silly--" 

_ You must remember this   
A kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh   
The fundamental things apply   
As time goes by   
And when two lovers woo   
They still say, "I love you"   
On that you can rely   
No matter what the future brings   
As time goes by   
Moonlight and love songs   
Never out of date   
Hearts full of passion   
Jealousy and hate   
Woman needs man   
And man must have his mate   
That no one can deny   
Well, it's still the same old story   
A fight for love and glory   
A case of do or die   
The world will always welcome lovers   
As time goes by   
Oh yes, the world will always welcome lovers   
As time goes by _

"May I cut in?" 

Lily looked up in surprise. Sirius stood grinning at her elbow. He'd removed his tie and unbuttoned the top two shirt buttons, spreading the collar of his shirt over his jacket collar and revealing a small gold medallion with the scales of justice on it (the symbol of his birth sign of Libra) resting on a chest with a light dusting of dark, wiry hairs. 

"Erm, it didn't take you long to get comfortable, did it, Sirius?" she said wryly. 

"And no, you cannot cut in," James informed him, "because the song is over. You can, however, have the next dance. If it's all right with Lily." 

She laughed with her hand over her mouth, trying not to let on that she was laughing at how ridiculous Sirius looked. She had to bite her tongue to keep from saying, _You know what you look like..._

"Yes, fine with me," she said, barely containing her merriment. 

As the music started up, Sirius surprised Lily by steering her masterfully across the floor, twirling her and dipping her and making her feel like she didn't need to do much more than let herself be manipulated by Sirius like a marionette, as the orchestra played and the singer sang... 

_ Understand the Night.  
When she flashes her sparkling eyes at dusk, she flirts with Twilight.  
When the noise of day dies away, the Night and Twilight stay and stay, making quiet love up high over the town.  
And the gentle Twilight gives his light, making a queen of Night._

If I could, I would write a sonnet of the night as a remembrance of your eyes.

And, if you'd promise not to tell, I could whisper the words in the dark, like a lover.  
We could count the stars - the shooting stars - and talk of lovers through the ages who had lived out of their dreams.  
Such will and courage they needed to live in a dream; to burn, with every breath so serene - as if they had been the first to find love at all - like Night and Twilight.   
(They were the first of lovers ever.)  
Could we be like them - hold on to one another until dawn comes?   
Then, we'll fly off and dream until Night and Twilight kiss again....

__ Lily swallowed, trying not to think about the words of the song. She looked with concern at Sirius, who seemed to be thoroughly consumed by concentrating on the dance steps. And then this made her frown. "When did you learn to dance?" she asked suddenly; she'd been planning to ask him whether he was all right, as she'd wanted to make sure Remus was all right, but somehow she had a feeling he would brush off her concern with a flippant remark. Which he probably would have. It was his way. 

"That's my other surprise, besides having joined the ranks of the gainfully employed," he grinned. The song ended and suddenly the same song was being played again--but with a pounding four-four beat, and suddenly, he was whirling her around the floor even more vigorously, and as she struggled to keep pace, Lily dropped her jaw, realizing who he was trying to resemble. 

"Oh, my god! I get it now! You're--you've been seduced by _disco_!" she proclaimed, shocked. Sirius just grinned and spun her round expertly, looking remarkably like the actor who had appeared in that disco film, who even also had a small chin dimple... 

He laughed as he moved effortlessly. "It's where all of the birds are right now, you know. The clubs, the discos. I'm a big hit with them..." 

She laughed as she moved in tandem with him, catching on to some of the moves he was doing now. Her training had helped her lose some of her physical awkwardness, although she knew she would never be mistaken for a ballerina. But she found that she was having _fun_ dancing with Sirius, and she reckoned it was good exercise, too. 

"I understand going to the clubs and dancing," she said, growing breathless as they moved, "but why the medallion with the scales? Afraid you'll forget when you were born?" she grinned. 

"Nah. All the Muggles are wearing things like this. Helps me blend in." 

She nodded and they continued dancing to the driving beat, although she could see that James was looking rather anxious as he stood at the edge of the dance floor. 

Remus also watched them, twirling a glass of champagne between taking sips from it. He'd meant to be honest with Lily, of all people, and he hadn't been able to. He felt like kicking himself. He should be able to tell her, at least, about Emil. Telling his mates about seeing a man was no easy thing; he dreaded the inevitable questions about whether he'd ever been attracted to _them_. If the answer had been 'no' he wouldn't have feared the question quite so much, but if he said that he'd have been lying. He remembered very vividly the many times he'd been closer than was wise to one of them prior to the full moon, especially when they were waiting for moonrise, which he felt couldn't happen soon enough, so that he'd be in his wolf form and they in their Animagi forms... 

But now he thought about why he hadn't told Lily. She was the first girl he'd ever been with. _Correction,_ he thought. _The first person I was ever with._ She would wonder whether his having a boyfriend now, instead of a girlfriend, had anything to do with her, whether it was her _fault_ (as though there was any "blame" about it). He didn't want to deal with that any more than he wanted to deal with the lads wondering whether, every time he'd seen them undressed, he was imagining touching them.... 

He sighed and took another sip of champagne as Sirius and Lily continued to dance. No, he just wasn't ready to come clean about seeing Emil. To anyone. Any more than he wanted to shout from the rooftops that he was a werewolf.... 

Suddenly, he noticed the time and nudged Peter, standing near him, with his elbow. "We have to go soon," he told him. "You haven't danced with Lily yet. You should pry her away from Sirius before it's time." 

Peter looked up at him, surprised. Remus looked back at him guilelessly, not realizing that Peter had been thinking about what was going to happen at the new moon, in a fortnight. 

He was going to get the Mark. 

The thought made him weak, and yet when the faceless Death Eater who'd ordered him to get rid of the Weasley girls congratulated him on a job well done, he'd also felt a swell of pride. The Cruciatus Curse hadn't been used on him; instead, he'd received an unexpected payment: two hundred Galleons. He was shocked, not having expected anything. Afterward, he was uncertain whether he should keep it. Even though he hadn't really killed the girls, it was blood money. But then, somehow, the money started spending itself. Some new clothes, a nice meal out here and there...Before long, he found himself wondering what he could do next to merit another similar windfall. Surely it wouldn't be too bad, he thought. After all, he'd managed to earn this by giving two girls whose lives were in danger new homes and safety. Any time any guilt crept into his mind for what he'd done, he quashed it firmly. _They'd be dead if it wasn't for me,_ he reminded himself. _I saved their bloody lives and found them a new home._

He nodded to Remus, feeling more confident about approaching Lily. He tried not to think about her being an Auror, a person who hunted down Death Eaters, which was what he was about to become. She was still his Lily. Somehow, his mind managed to separate these things into neat little boxes that had nothing to do with each other. _So I'm going to be initiated as a Death Eater,_ he thought. _It doesn't mean I'm a bad person. Whatever I'm told to do--if it's very bad, I'll just find another way to make it __seem_ that I've done it, like with the Weasley girls... 

He went to the conductor and whispered instructions to him, then approached Sirius and Lily as the song ended. 

"M-may I have this dance?" he said nervously, damning himself for stuttering. _God, she looks so beautiful!_ he thought, in awe of her, even though she would have been appalled if she had a handy mirror; dancing with Sirius had caused half her hair to fall down and her upper lip was perspiring. Her chest was heaving with each breath, and Peter tried very hard not to watch as her breasts rose and fell, rose and fell. As the song Peter had requested started, she smiled at him and held out her arms. 

"Of course, Peter. After that, I reckon I need something a little slower. That was great fun, Sirius!" she said over her shoulder, grinning, as he smiled back at her and just happened to capture Cecilia in his arms; Sirius was never long without a partner. 

_ Only you can make this world seem right   
Only you can make the darkness bright  
Only you and you alone  
Can thrill me like you do  
And fill my heart with love for only you  
Only you can make this change in me  
For it's true you are my destiny....  
_

Peter closed his eyes as he held her and they swayed together, wondering if she suspected that the words of the song expressed his feelings for her. He could almost imagine, for a brief moment in time, that he was the one who had married her, that this was _their_ wedding reception, that she was going to be in _his_ bed that night, and every night thereafter... 

_ When you hold my hand I understand  
The magic that you do  
You're my dream come true  
My one and only you  
Only you can make this world seem right   
Only you can make the darkness bright  
Only you and you alone  
Can thrill me like you do  
And fill my heart with love for only you  
Only you can make this change in me  
For it's true you are my destiny  
When you hold my hand I understand  
The magic that you do  
You're my dream come true  
My one and only you   
_

"Peter? Peter!" 

"Hmm?" he said, opening his eyes slowly. 

"The song is over. Thank you for the dance. I think Sirius and Remus are trying to get your attention. It seems to be time for the three of you to go," she said, nodding at where the two of them were waving their arms at the edge of the dance floor. 

Then, unexpectedly, she leant toward him and brushed her lips lightly across his cheek. "Thank you for everything, Peter. And also, thank you for being with Remus tonight. I'm glad he won't be alone again in that dreadful Ministry cell. I've _seen_ them. You're such a good friend," she added, putting her hand on his cheek fondly. Peter turned bright red and leant toward her to kiss her quickly. 

"Congratulations, Lily," he said hoarsely. "I know you and James will be very happy." The words had almost stuck in his throat, but he managed to get them out. She smiled at him and took his hands in hers. 

"Thank you, Peter," she said again. "Have a good night. And we'll see you all here tomorrow morning, for the wedding breakfast, right? Before seeing us off on our trip?" 

He nodded, trying not to think about seeing her after she'd spent her first night with James Potter as his _wife_ (even though he knew it wasn't the first time they'd spent the night together) and finally tore himself away from her. James was standing with Remus and Sirius now, at the edge of the dance floor. They were discussing Sirius' dancing prowess. 

"I thought I was hallucinating..." James said incredulously, shaking his head. 

Remus guffawed. "That's because at all other times in the past he always seemed to have two left feet. How much practicing did _that_ take?" 

Sirius looked offended. "It's rather simple, really. And you'll note that I wasn't the only one out there. A load of Muggles guests were dancing as well. It's everywhere these days." 

James grinned at the three of them. "Well, I can't thank you blokes enough. You're the best mates anyone's ever had," he said slapping Remus and Peter on the arm and wrapping his arm around Sirius' neck and pretending to try to strangle him good-naturedly. "I almost wish I could be out running with the three of you tonight, under the moon...haven't done that for ages..." 

Remus laughed again. "Don't let Lily hear you say that. This is your _wedding night_. Speaking of which, if you decide to bow out, it looks like there's someone who wouldn't mind stepping in for you..." He'd meant to sound lighthearted about it, but he wasn't sure that came across; even to his own ears, there was an edge of resentment in his voice. 

"What on earth are you talking about?" James whirled, looking in the direction where Remus had nodded. 

Someone else was dancing with Lily now. 

It was Severus Snape. 

"What that bastard doing here?" Peter demanded indignantly. 

"Want me to deal with him, James?" Sirius asked. "Let him know what we do with gate-crashers?" 

James put a restraining hand on his arm, but reluctantly. "He's not a gate-crasher. He was invited." His three friends could tell it cost him a great effort to say this. 

"_What_?" they said in unison. 

"You must be barking," Sirius said, ever the non-judgmental one. 

"It was Lily's idea. According to her, we have Snape to thank for _us_. She reckons that if he didn't have the self-respect to refuse to be mistreated by her any more, they'd still be together, making each other miserable, and we wouldn't have found each other..." 

"You're damn right he'd be making her _miserable_," Sirius agreed. "Mistreated! When did she--" 

"It's none of your business," James said suddenly. Sirius took note of the dangerous tone in his voice suddenly. James was usually smiling and laughing, but when he looked like that, you didn't go on joking and laughing. You took it seriously. 

"Erm, right. Well okay, then. We'll be off. We'll see you back here at breakfast. Have a _good night_," Sirius added, winking and nudging James in the ribs, making him wince and then grin. He sent them off with slaps on the back, then turned back to watch his bride dance with Severus Snape. 

She was looking down and away as they danced, not meeting his eyes as the singer crooned the sad, sad words... 

__

Darling, I'm so blue without you  
I think about you the live-long day  
When you ask me if I'm lonely  
Then I only have this to say

You'll never know just how much I miss you  
You'll never know just how much I care  
And if I tried, I still couldn't hide my love for you  
You ought to know, for haven't I told you so  
A million or more times?

You went away and my heart went with you  
I speak your name in my ev'ry prayer  
If there is some other way to prove that I love you  
I swear I don't know how  
You'll never know if you don't know now

You'll never know just how much I miss you  
You'll never know just how much I care  
You said good-bye, no stars in the sky refuse to shine  
Take it from me, it's no fun to be alone  
With moonlight and memories

__ When the song was over, she looked up at him; she'd forgotten how tall he was. She had to tip her head back to see his face--and she was almost as tall as James. He looked like a stranger in Muggle formal clothes; a sad, forlorn stranger. "Thank you for coming, Severus. I--I wanted you to know--" 

"That's all right, Lily," he said, interrupting her. "You don't need to say anything." They'd otherwise been silent while dancing. He just wanted the one dance with her; that was enough. When he heard what the singer was pronouncing, he wished he'd gone to the conductor with a request, like other people, but he didn't know any Muggle songs and wouldn't know what to ask for. He'd managed not to wince at the words of the song, hoping she didn't think he was still pining after her, but unsure whether he really was over her at the same time.... 

"Severus," she started to say into the silence between songs; she was unsure of what else she might say. Inviting him had seemed like a good idea at the time... 

"Snape." 

They both turned at the same time, finding James standing at Lily's elbow. The tall Slytherin nodded at the groom. 

"Potter. Congratulations," he managed to choke out, feeling bile rise in his throat. 

"Thank you," James answered, just as stiffly. "I came to retrieve my bride," he said then, wishing he could take back the words as soon as he said them; he sounded insufferably possessive and he'd be lucky if Lily didn't give him a piece of her mind. 

Snape gave a slight bow and said, "Good evening," turning to go. Lily put her hand on his arm. 

"You haven't kissed the bride," she said softly, looking up at him with those incredible eyes. 

He swallowed, then leaned down to brush his lips across her soft cheek. Pulling back, he recalled all of those times when they were together and he dreamt of marrying her some day. He knew that on the day he looked down at her, attired as a bride, she would look as beautiful and radiant as this. He just didn't know that his heart was going to be aching so badly, and that he would be filled with remorse... 

"Goodbye, Lily," he said, not acknowledging James this time. He turned and retreated to the small tent that had been set up especially for witches and wizards to use as a safe Apparition point. A burly wizard with auburn hair was standing outside the tent, smoking a cigarette absentmindedly, keeping Muggles from wandering into the off-limits space. Severus didn't recognize him and wondered whether he was one of Potter's teammates on the Magpies. _Trust Potter to land a spot on the single most successful Quidditch team in League history..._

"Leaving?" the wizard asked him. Severus tried not to breathe in the smoke the other man was exhaling. 

"Yes. I'm Apparating to London, if it's all the same to you." 

The wizard nodded at him and Severus stepped into the tent, preparing to go directly to Platform Nine and Three Quarters to meet Crouch's train. He'd succeeded in befriending Barty Crouch, Junior the previous summer, before the end of the term, as per Lucius Malfoy's instructions. It had been surprisingly easy, as the boy was rather starved for friendship. He was one of the most sarcastic people Severus Snape had ever met--apart from himself. From what he could tell, this caused most of the Ravenclaws to rather distance themselves from him and his caustic remarks. Standing about making snide comments about other people was something that Severus Snape did very well, and the two were soon doing this together quite a lot, and then meeting up during the holiday. 

His uncle was gratified that he actually seemed to have a friend now and didn't work him too hard when Crouch was visiting. He was also pleasantly surprised that his friend was a Ravenclaw, as that was Duncan MacDermid's school house, and that his dad was a respected Ministry official. "Now _that's_ the sort of fraind ye shood-a bin makin' fer the last saiven years, Saiverus..." his uncle had said approvingly. 

The three of them had gone sailing on the Firth of Clyde, on the _Patricia_. Crouch was sometimes resistant to pulling his weight, but when a rope wrapped itself around his ankle and he was pulled overboard, or a boom swung into him, sending him flying, he soon learned to pay attention, and was even learning to trim the sails and do some complicated sailor's knots. 

Now Crouch was done sixth year and he was going to be spending the entire summer with Severus and his uncle. His father evidently didn't care that he hadn't seen his son in a while; he was far too busy with work to fret over that, and had told his wife that it was good that "young Barty" finally had a friend. Severus sighed, pausing before Apparating to King's Cross. _One year down, one to go._ Hopefully, he wouldn't need to associate much with Crouch after the younger boy was out of school. Malfoy had said he had two years to "cultivate" him. Well, he was doing his best to get Crouch to trust him.... 

James looked at Lily with concern; she was still looking at where Snape had gone, to the Apparition tent. "Lily?" he whispered. "Dance?" 

She turned to him suddenly, looking like she'd just woken up. "Oh, yes, James. Of course..." 

The orchestra had started playing one of her favorite songs, and she smiled at James as they held each other closely. 

"I know this one, too," he said to her softly. "Mum and Dad liked it. I didn't hear much Muggle music at home, but Dad was always singing this one to Mum." He sang softly in her ear, along with the singer on the dais... 

_ It had to be you, it had to be you,   
I wandered around an' finally found   
Somebody who   
Could make me be true   
Could make me be blue   
And even be glad, just to be sad, thinkin' of you,   
Some others I've seen   
Might never be mean   
Might never be cross, or try to be boss,   
But they wouldn't do   
For nobody else gave me a thrill,   
With all your faults, I love you still,   
It had to be you, wonderful you, it had to be you!   
_

"What faults?" Lily laughed, grinning up at him. 

"Oh, I don't know," he said, feeling the melancholy from the Snape-encounter lift. "Not kissing me enough while we're dancing, perhaps," he breathed softly against her mouth, before pressing his lips tightly against hers and gently opening his mouth. The singer went on without him: 

__

Some others I've seen   
Might never be mean   
Might never be cross, or try to be boss,   
But they wouldn't do   
Nobody else gave me a thrill,   
With all your faults, I love you still,   
It had to be you, wonderful you, it had to be you!   
It just had to be you!   


The rest of the reception seemed to go very fast. Lily threw her bouquet from the steps of the inn before they two of them went inside and up to their room. James opened the door and picked her up to carry her inside, and the moment the door was closed it seemed that they were hungrily ripping off each other's clothes... 

Afterward, lying together on the cool sheets wearing nothing at all, feeling a breeze wafting in the open window and watching the full moon drift in and out through the clouds, James looked down into Lily's face and marveled that they were here, on their wedding night, that they were married and need never again fear her father finding them in her bed in the morning, or sneaking around the house in his Invisibility Cloak...They were husband and wife and together forever. 

"What are you thinking?" he whispered to her. 

She looked surprised, then pensive. "Oh, just--maybe we _should_ have invited Bill Weasley. Even though we don't know him _all_ that well, and we'd have had to invite his parents, whom we don't know at all, because they probably wouldn't have let their fifteen-year-old son travel all by himself in the current climate..." 

"You're thinking of those girls again, aren't you?" James said softly, brushing her hair out of her face. She mentioned the Weasley girls often; it haunted her that they hadn't been able to find the two little girls, with all of the resources of the Ministry of Magic. She nodded sadly. 

"I'm sorry. I just--it's so sad...I don't know what I'd ever do if we had children and something like that happened--" He saw a tear roll down her cheek and he kissed it away. 

"Now, now, Lily. You've got it all out of order, as Sirius would say. Have the children _first_, then start worrying about them..." He gave her a small smile, trying to gently coax her from her little mood. 

She sat up and stroked his chest thoughtfully. "Are you saying--" She let her hand trail further down and slowly closed her hand around him, making him gasp. 

"Um, no, I'm _not_ saying that. I mean--we just got married--" 

She moved her hand some more. "Thank you for reminding me. This _is_ our wedding night, after all. I believe there are certain _things_ we should be attending to..." 

James gasped again, then sighed. Suddenly, she let out a yelp as he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her up for a long, leisurely kiss. "I believe you're right, Mrs. Potter. There are certain approved activities for a wedding night, and getting maudlin or doing too much planning for the future are _not_ on the list of approved activities." 

She grinned down at him. "I _am_ Mrs. Potter now, aren't I? How funny. It works very well, actually, doesn't it? Lily Potter. I like it." 

"I don't," he answered promptly, very adamantly. 

She frowned. "What?" Suddenly, he turned them over, so that she was lying under him and he was propped up on his arms above her. 

"I love it," he whispered huskily to her before lowering his mouth to hers again, and soon they were engaged in the chief approved activity for wedding nights everywhere... 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

**Notes:** The music referenced in this chapter included--

_Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered_ (from the musical "Pal Joey"), music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart  
_Blue Moon_, also by Rodgers and Hart  
_As Time Goes By_, lyrics and music by Herman Hupfeld  
_It Had to Be You_ (from the 1944 Hollywood musical "Show Business"), music by Isham Jones and lyrics by Gus Kahn, 1924, 1944  
_Moonlight Serenade_, music by Glenn Miller and lyric by Kurt Elling  
_Only You_ by The Platters  
_You'll Never Know_ (From the 20th Century-Fox Picture "Hello, Frisco, Hello"), by Dick Haymes with The Song Spinners (Mack Gordon & Harry Warren)  


Thanks to George Hobbes and SadieSue for beta reading. Thanks also to everyone who commented on Chapter Eleven! 

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